


Endless Love

by Leona_Darkhart



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Blood and Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Love Triangles, Loyalty, Making Out, Marriage, Memory Loss, Murder, Obsession, Rape, Reincarnation, Reunions, Romance, Sacrifice, Self-Discovery, Sex, Stalking, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:35:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 18
Words: 50,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27326665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leona_Darkhart/pseuds/Leona_Darkhart
Summary: As the endless Sheng Gong-Wu debacle between Xiaolin and Heylin continues, somebody new will be entering the fray as well. What does this new character have to do with Chase Young? Are there any other sides of him under his villainy façade that we don’t know after all these years? Or is there something else that we didn’t know about Chase and his past?
Relationships: Chase Young (Xiaolin Showdown)/Original Female Character(s), Jack Spicer/Original Female Character(s), Raimundo Pedrosa/Kimiko Tohomiko, Raimundo Pedrosa/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really love Xiaolin Showdown since I was a kid and Chase Young was one of my favourite characters. As I was getting older, I’ve realized that what happens if he’s the main character? In this Xiaolin Showdown-inspired fanfic, let me take you to a journey beyond the TV series where elements of romance, tragedy, violence, action and friendship come into play, giving you a new perspective. However, you have been warned that this fanfic is more suited towards mature readers of 18 years and above since there will be elements that are NSFW (Not Safe For Work) and definitely not suitable for younger readers. This fanfic is just simply for fun and I hope that you’ll enjoy reading this.
> 
> Thanks.  
> Leona Darkhart.

A thousand years ago…  
The storm was raging over his head.  
The rain was drenching him, soaking his clothes to his skin.  
The wind howled and freezing him to the bone. But he didn’t give a damn about any of it.  
There, over her grave at the foot of a blooming cherry tree was where he pledged his solemn oath: one that binds two hearts for all eternity.  
An unbreakable oath that made those whose hearts were bind for each other will be blind towards others’ affections.  
Lightning flashed and cherry blossom petals swirled around him as he recited his binding oath for his burning love while clutching her beloved hairpin.

“My heart is yours for all eternity and yours is mine. No matter how long it takes, I will wait for your return and we’ll be together again for all eternity.”

...

Present, Springtime

“So… this is the Xiaolin Temple,” Lily commented as she looked up from the address in her hands. Ever since she had seen the advertisement about the Xiaolin Temple, she knew that she must come here. Her eyes scanned the intricate detailing of the front gate. Despite being old with age, the gate itself has rustic charm and it was very intriguing. A cool breeze brought the fragrance of nearby blooming apple trees with some of the loose petals stuck in her waist-length hair that was swaying in the gentle breeze. She inhaled the sweet scent as she brushed them off.

“Okay,” she took a deep breath and lifted her luggage. “Let’s go inside.”

As she was dragging her luggage across the cool hall, her eyes darted here and there. She could see ancient tapestries with intricate embroidery and calligraphy hanging on the walls, large urns and antique vases from the Ming Dynasty, a bookshelf in one corner and a bonzai tree in another corner. As she stopped to admire the tapestries, she heard voices and someone running.

“You can’t catch me hahaha!!!” A boy’s voice, loud and shrill.

“Come back here, Omi!” A girl’s voice rang out, agitated.

“Cut it out, you two!” Another boy’s voice, slightly matured than the earlier two, calling out firmly.

Then more running. At first Lily thought that the voices were outside but when she listened again, they were actually inside the hall and they were closing in on her. Before she could do anything else…

WHAM!!!!

…

“Look what you did, Omi!” shrieked Kimiko Tohomiko as she was strangling him. “If you didn’t run away into the hall, none of this would happen!”

“Who is she?” Clay Bailey looked at the unconscious girl sprawling on the floor.

“I don’t know,” Raimundo Pedrosa shrugged “but we ought to help her out.”

“Hey,” Raimundo said as he was trying to wake her up. “Hey, are you okay?” At first, she didn’t stir but after a few moments, she finally moved. When she finally blew her hair off her face, Raimundo was face to face with the prettiest girl that he had ever seen: hazel-brown eyes, cute button nose, luscious ruby red lips; all of these were set in her fair oval face, framed by her long and wavy brown hair.

“What happened?” she asked, slightly dazed from the impact. She eyed around and noticed there were four people looking at her and they were wearing similar red tunics with white pants and blue sashes on their waists. Three of them were boys and there was a girl too and all of them were younger than herself. The first boy that was standing in front of her. He was lean and tall with spiky brown hair and caramel-toned skin. The second boy was the biggest and tallest among them. He was fair with blue eyes and his blonde hair was partially hidden under his cowboy hat while the third boy was the smallest among them all and he was bald. As for the girl, she was petite and pretty; baby blue eyes, cute button nose and rosebud lips set in her heart-shaped face that was framed with her jet-black hair that was tied into twin pigtails.

“Sorry about that,” Raimundo apologized profusely while he was pulling her back on her feet. “One of my friends accidentally ran into you just now.”

“This is the guy,” Clay said, holding Omi upside down by his ankles. “This fella here charged at you like a mad bull seeing red at a fest.”

“I apologize for running into you,” Omi said. “It was very rude of me to do so. I was usually at my best behavior.”

“Best behavior? That’s a laugh,” Kimiko snorted. “Tell me something I don’t know?”

“Speaking of which,” Raimundo interrupted. “I still…” he paused when he saw his friends’ glares. “Err… I mean, WE still don’t know your name.” Before Raimundo could say anything else…

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?”

…

“I’m pleased to meet you, Lily,” Master Fung said as he and the Xiaolin Warriors are sitting around a table with her. In front of each of them there was a cup of floral tea beside a small plate of sweet cakes.

“I believe you have met my disciples,” he introduced them one by one; Raimundo was the one with the spiky hair, Clay was the one with the cowboy hat, Omi was the bald one and Kimiko was the pretty girl.

“Disciples?” Lily asked, surprised. “Oh yes,” Master Fung nodded. “This temple teaches a special kind of martial arts to its disciples. They also go on special quests. However,” he paused to sip his tea. “You’ll neither be learning martial arts nor going on missions with them.”

The Xiaolin Warriors were surprised. “Master Fung, we thought that she’s the new disciple,”  
Omi said. “Yeah,” Raimundo replied. “But how come she will not be doing the same thing as us?” Kimiko and Clay nodded in unison.

Master Fung raised his hand for silence. “She is indeed a new disciple but in a different way,” explained Master Fung. “Unlike all of you, she will be helping out in the temple grounds. That too is a learning experience for her. So, Lily” Master Fung looked at her. “Do you accept my offer?”

Lily looked at him, clasped her hands and bowed slightly. “I am honored to accept such offer, Master Fung. Thank you.”

Master Fung smiled. “As the head of this temple, I welcome you with open arms.”  
…  
“Well, Lily” explained Master Fung later that evening after dinner. “Your tasks are mostly on cooking and cleaning the kitchen, temple compounds and gardening. As for the library, bathrooms and inside the temple, leave them to my disciples. As for laundry duty, my disciples will take care of it on their own. You may ask them for extra information regarding the chores. As for errands, you must ask one of my disciples to accompany you since I won’t allow you to leave the temple grounds on your own.”

Suddenly something long and green slithered out from the shadows and it approached them. Lily squealed in fear and hid behind Master Fung.

“It’s a snake!” Lily squealed but she was surprised when Master Fung hunched down and fearlessly picked it up.

“Who you’re calling a snake?”

Lily’s mouth hung open. “Wait,” she said. “It TALKED???”

“Of course,” Master Fung replied calmly. “Lily, I would like you to meet Dojo. Dojo, this is Lily. She’s our new helper.”

“I’m a DRAGON,” Dojo replied firmly, his voice was serious. However, he relaxed when he saw Lily turned slightly pale. “But since you’re new here, I forgive you.”

“I’m sorry for my behavior,” Lily apologized. “I really didn’t realize.”

“It’s nice of both you to finally warm up to each other,” Master Fung smiled. “Lily, you can even ask Dojo if you have any problems regarding your tasks. You can definitely trust him.”

Lily humbly bowed. “Of course, Master Fung.”

“As for your accommodation,” Dojo added. “You’ll be given your own cottage behind the temple with your own bathroom and kitchen. It has a lovely view of the lotus pond and the surrounding mountains.”

“You’ll begin your task tomorrow in the morning,” Master Fung said. “After you have finished your tasks, you may rest for a while before you do other tasks. We’ll be counting on you, Lily.”

“Thank you, Master Fung.”

…

When Lily entered her cottage, she was amazed by its charming oriental rustic concept: classic oil paintings on the walls, blue and white porcelain vases on the table and tasteful dark wood furniture. Dark red curtains patterned with white cherry blossoms draped the windows overlooking the lotus pond. Next, she walked into the kitchen and her mouth hung open in surprise. She expected an old kitchen that uses firewood for cooking but this kitchen was modern and new with the latest state-of-the-art utensils and facilities. There was a sink with a faucet, an oven, a stove, an electronic mixer, a food processor, a noodle-maker, an electronic kettle, a juicer, a toaster and a refrigerator beside a small washing machine. The refrigerator was empty when she opened it.

“I guess I’ll have to do some grocery shopping for myself after this,” she said to herself when she closed the refrigerator.

She checked the cupboards and shelves; they were empty as well. There was a door beside the dining table. Instantly she knew that door had probably led her to the backyard outside but didn’t open it because it was already late.

After inspecting the kitchen, she made her way into her bedroom. It was not too small but not too big either. There was a bed beside the curtained-window that was overlooking the mountains, an antique wardrobe to put her clothes in and a vanity dressing table with a mirror and a chair. She noticed a door beside the desk so she decided to take a look. To her relief, the bathroom was inside her bedroom. She didn’t have to walk through the living room or the kitchen at night just to relieve herself. The bathroom was simple but complete with essential necessities; a sink with a mirror hung above it, a toilet, a hand bidet, and a shower complete with a water-heater.

Satisfied with everything about her dwelling, she retraced her steps back into her bedroom. She realized that her luggage had already been brought in by someone as it was sitting at the foot of her bed. And on her bed, there was a cloth-wrapped package that she had overlooked earlier. She took it in her hands and unwrapped it. Inside there were five red long-sleeved tunics, five white long pants, two pairs of black shoes and two black sashes. A card fluttered to the floor as she was inspecting each item. She picked it up and read it.

“Welcome to the temple, Lily.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Wow… something sure is smelling good!” Omi said as he and his friends were doing their routine morning practice.

As Xiaolin Warriors, they always need to keep their skills in check because they must utilize them in Xiaolin Showdowns. If they lose the Showdowns, not only they will lose the Sheng Gong-Wu that they were fighting for, they will also lose the Sheng Gong-Wu that they had wagered upon in the Showdowns. So, it is a must for them to try to win as many Showdowns as possible without using any kind of foul play. Sheng Gong-Wu are ancient artifacts that hold tremendous powers and abilities. If they ever fall into the wrong hands, the world will be in its demise.

“Yeah, I’m starving!” Clay said. “Can we stop now for breakfast?” He was about to leave when a tangle of hair stopped him in his tracks. The tangle disappeared a few seconds later.

“Hello…” snapped Kimiko as she twirled her Tangle-Web Comb in her hands. “We’re not even finished with practice yet!” She jumped to the side when Clay lashed out with his Three-Arm Sash.

“Kimiko’s right,” Raimundo nodded in agreement as he was swinging his favourite Sheng Gong-Wu, the Sword of the Storm, over his head. “Besides,” he said when he put his sword down. “I don’t think that Lily has finished cooking breakfast. If she did finish cooking, she would have rung the bell to call us for mealtimes.”

“Well, if that’s the case,” Kimiko said while getting ready in a battle stance with the comb in her hand. “Might as well we practice this to the max. Besides, the more practice we’ll do, the hungrier we’ll be. Right?”

“Agree!”

“You betcha!”

“Yeah!”

“Let’s go!”

Suddenly… A bell rang from somewhere inside the temple.

“MEALTIME!!!”

…

“Wow… this is the best breakfast ever!” Omi said between mouthfuls of rice and meat. The Xiaolin Warriors, Master Fung and Dojo were sitting around the table having their breakfast. Clay and Kimiko were eating silently but they did nod their heads in agreement.

“Thank you, Omi.” Lily thanked him as she was pouring tea into Master Fung’s teacup. He thanked her and took a sip. “This jasmine tea is wonderful,” he marveled.

“Yeah,” Dojo said as he swiftly picked up the choicest pieces of morsels from the plates. “It’s been awhile since we had this kind of meal for breakfast. White rice, ginger chicken, beef kung pao and veggies in oyster sauce… I could eat this forever!”

“Oh… it’s nothing,” Lily said, bowing down in humble gratitude.

“Speaking of which,” Raimundo said as he was sipping his tea. “You look great in your new outfit.” As he said so, everyone had their eyes on Lily. She was indeed stunning with her new outfit; a red long-sleeved red tunic tied together with a black sash at the waist, long white pants and black shoes. Her long hair was braided and piled up in a bun. A red flower completed the whole look.

“Er… Thank… you…” Lily blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed when Raimundo complimented her. She wasn’t used to compliments regarding her looks but it did feel good in a while despite her being slightly uncomfortable about it.

“Now look what you did, Raimundo!” Kimiko poked Raimundo in the ribs. “You made her face turn red like a beetroot.” Hearing Kimiko’s comments had made Lily blushing even redder.

“Why are you so mad about it?” queried Raimundo as he managed to avoid spilling his tea on his tunic. “Are you jealous?” he teased.

“Me?” Kimiko stammered. “Me? Jealous? Never!” she scoffed while crossing her arms. Omi looked at both of them with interest while Clay continued to help himself with more beef kung pao.

“Now, now everyone,” Master Fung calmly interrupted them with a smile. “Let’s not fight over our delightful meal. You can both resume your fighting practice later.”

…

Lily let her mind wander aimlessly as she was washing the pots and pans from this morning. She felt relieved that everyone enjoyed her cooking since she didn’t really cook much. All she ever did was cook the food that she loved the best. 

“They really enjoyed my cooking,” she thought to herself as she was washing off the last of the used pots. “But I really need to try cooking a variety of other dishes too. At least they won’t be bored with the same dishes every day. Oh well, I got to do my best for everyone.” She smiled when she remembered how happy everyone was this morning.

“You look great in your new outfit…” She suddenly blushed with embarrassment when Raimundo’s compliment was echoing again in her head. She acknowledged that Raimundo was indeed cute but this was only her first day here, too early for her to jump to any conclusions. Perhaps one day she would like to know him better. 

However, as soon as she thought about getting to know more about Raimundo, a searing pain suddenly shot up through her heart. The pain was so severe that she dropped to the floor, her hands tightly clutching her chest.

“What is wrong with me? Am I going to die?”

She wanted to call for help but somehow her voice was stuck in her throat. Just then, there were footsteps nearby. They sounded like they were approaching the kitchen. Before she could make some noise to alert the person who might be outside the kitchen, the pain in her chest suddenly had vanished!

“Hey, Lily! I was wondering if I could… Oh My Gosh! Are you alright?”

Meanwhile, Chase Young was plotting a new plan to gather more Sheng Gong-Wu in his lair. As he was making his calculations and referring to the maps and journals, an excruciating pain suddenly cut through his heart like a sword. It was so agonizing that he fell onto the floor, writhing in pain. Before he could even question about the pain, it had mysteriously vanished!

“Could it be?”

…

“You really got me worried just now,” Kimiko commented as she was handling Lily a glass of water. She was awfully frightened when she saw Lily on the kitchen floor. “You look totally pale as if you’re about to die.” Lily drank the water and held the empty glass in her hands. “But I’m okay now… I think.”

“Are you sure?” Kimiko eyeing her suspiciously. “You don’t sound convincing enough to me. Want me to take you to the clinic? Or would you like me to inform Master Fung about this?”

“No!” Lily swiftly clutched Kimiko’s hand. “I mean, please don’t tell anyone else… especially Master Fung. I don’t want other people to worry about me.” She begged. “Please?”

“Well…” Kimiko was reluctant to listen to Lily pleas because there’s no way she’ll let her off like that. But she finally relented after seeing her begging on her knees while clutching her hand. Lily was somewhat stubborn despite that soft-spoken and demure exterior of hers. She reminded her of herself… being stubborn and all.

“Alright,” she sighed. “I won’t tell the others. But…” her voice turned serious. “If I ever see you like that again, I’m so gonna tell on you AND…” her baby blue eyes glinting mischievously. “I’m so gonna drag you to the clinic myself.” Both girls burst out laughing.

“What’s all the laughing about?” Omi poked his head through the doorway. “Is there something funny?” Kimiko narrowed her eyes at him. “None of your business, Omi.” She scoffed. “It’s just one of our girl talks. No boys allowed. Right, Lily?” she poked Lily slightly at her elbow.

“What?” Lily was startled when Kimiko poked her again while winking at her secretly. “Oh, yeah… I mean…” she stuttered an answer. “Yeah, girl talk. Strictly no boys.”  
Before Omi could say anything else, Dojo peeked into the kitchen.

“Come on everyone,” he said. “A new Sheng Gong-Wu has unveiled itself. Master Fung wants to see everyone in the main hall.”

“A Sheng Gong… What?” Lily asked, obviously confused.

“No time to explain, gotta go now!” Dojo quickly rushed off.

“Why don’t you just come with us, Lily?” Omi snatched her hand.

…

“Both of you finally made it,” Clay said when Kimiko and Omi finally arrived. Raimundo wanted to say something but as soon as he saw Lily tagging along behind them, his facial expression changed. 

“What is SHE doing here?” he whispered to Kimiko as she was sitting down beside him. “She wasn’t supposed to be here for the briefing.” 

“Don’t blame me,” Kimiko shrugged, making sure that Lily couldn’t hear their conversation. “Omi was the one who dragged her here. Besides, she was with us when Dojo told us about the Sheng Gong-Wu.” She was a bit surprised when knowing that Lily wasn’t supposed to be alongside them for the briefing. Wasn’t she a part of the team too?

Even Master Fung looked slightly uncomfortable to see Lily there with the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors. However, he decided to let her attend the briefing because she may be a warrior like his other disciples sometime in the future. There’s no use hiding the Sheng Gong-Wu facts from her. Besides, it was very unsightly of him to shoo her off like that. It would be seemingly rude to her and his other disciples.

“Anyway,” he began as he was unrolling the parchment scroll that shows the newly-activated Sheng Gong-Wu. “Today’s newest Sheng Gong-Wu is the Memory Manipulators.” Everyone stared at a pair of gloves with swirling patterns that was displayed on the scroll.

“Gloves?” Raimundo eyed skeptically “We already have the Fist of Tabigong.”

“Memory Manipulators?” Clay added “That’s pretty corny.”

“Don’t underestimate this particular Sheng Gong-Wu,” Master Fung said sternly. “These gloves enable the user to manipulate the memories of someone else when in contact. The user will able to add, erase or alter their memories according to what the user intended to be.”

“Interesting,” Kimiko smiled. “Pretty useful indeed.”

“However,” Master Fung warned. “This particular Sheng Gong-Wu will harm the person whose memories are always manipulated by it. It will either cause confusion by piling up all the memories before and after manipulation or erasing all of the person’s memories. In a worst-case scenario, the person will be dead. It is a frightening Sheng Gong-Wu.”

“Well, that is a powerful Sheng Gong-Wu.” Raimundo commented as he was about to stand up. “We better go now. Let’s go!” The rest of the Xiaolin Warriors stood up as well.

“Lily,” Master Fung said as she was about to stand up with the others. “You will not be joining them. I’ve already made myself clear yesterday, haven’t I?” He narrowed his eyes at her, his voice was serious.

“Yes, Master Fung.” Lily answered meekly as she sat down again. “I’m sorry.”

“Good.”

…

“I wonder why Lily isn’t allowed to join our Sheng Gong-Wu quests.” Omi asked his fellow warriors as they were on their way to the Dark Cave where the Memory Manipulators were located.

“Maybe she was new?” Clay shrugged. “Master Fung did say that she will not learn any martial arts and such.”

“Yeah, but why?” Omi asked again. “It’s not like we can’t teach her some stuff.”

“Maybe she was only assigned with tasks within the temple grounds,” Clay replied. “Normal stuff like cooking and cleaning that will not bring her any harm.”

“But it sure is nice to have another girl in the temple,” Kimiko added. “At least there’s someone who understands girl stuff. Someone that can teach me a few stuffs too.”

“Oh yeah,” Omi giggled. “Like cooking, cleaning and being a lady… OUCH!” he winced in pain when Kimiko pinched his arm. Hard.

“Please don’t make me throw you offboard,” Kimiko warned while blowing her fingers. “Even you too can learn a thing or two from her... such as being polite and respectful.”

While Kimiko, Omi and Clay were talking about Lily, Raimundo sat in silence. He just couldn’t stop thinking about Lily. Sure, he was a little suspicious when Master Fung didn’t allow to her to join them. Maybe it was too early for her to join them in their quests. But there’s something intriguing about Lily. He would really love to know more about her.

“One day… maybe someday… I’ll get to know her better…”

…

“Welcome home, everyone!” Lily greeted the warriors as they entered the hall later that evening. However, when she noticed their worn-out and solemn faces, she knew that something was amiss.

“Oh? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“We lost the Showdown,” Kimiko sighed, slumping down onto the floor. The rest of the warriors also followed suit.

“You’ve lost the Showdown?” Master Fung commented as he emerged from the shadows. “With whom you’re fighting with and what is the wagered Sheng Gong-Wu?”

“Err… Chase Young… the Thorn of Thunderbolt”

Lily felt a chill when Chase Young’s name was being mentioned. She wasn’t sure why she felt that way. She had never even met this Chase Young!

Master Fung sighed in disappointment.

“And who was the one fighting Chase?”

“I did,” Omi stepped forward and bowed his head so low that it touched the ground. “I’m sorry, Master Fung. I was careless during the Showdown.”

“Hmm… I guess all of you should be more focused in your training. Please don’t let this defeat happen again. And Lily?”

“Yes, Master Fung?”

“Please bring our dinner. It’s almost time.”


	3. Chapter 3

The Xiaolin Warriors and Dojo were off to another Sheng Gong-Wu quest, leaving Lily and Master Fung alone in the temple. Under his orders, Lily wasn’t allowed to follow them on their missions. In order to fill her time, he gave her various tasks to do around the temple. 

Today, Lily was given the task to tend the plants in the temple’s bonsai garden. Since she had already finished her other tasks, she made her way to the garden.

“Ooh!” she exclaimed excitedly when she saw the garden. “This is amazing!”

The garden was in an open space with equal shade and equal sunlight. Rows of plants and shrubs from different species were spilling out from their respective pots on long wooden racks and tiers. Some of the plants and shrubs were in bloom, leaving a sweet fragrance in the air.

“Time to get to work,” she said, rolling her sleeves up to her elbows. “I better not waste any more time!”

Gardening was no easy task as she had a lot of things to do. She trimmed the plants and shrubs, watered them and gave them fertilizer, separated the healthy plants and the dying plants, rearranged the pots, topped up the earth in the pots, hunted around for nosy snails and caterpillars and swept the garden floor before throwing away the discarded items. By the time she was done with her task, sweat was running down her face and her hair was slightly loose from its bun. She was tired but she was indeed satisfied with her work. Besides, gardening was one of her favourite things to do as she felt very comfortable being close with plants and flowers. She wasn’t really sure why she was feeling like that but she didn’t really mind much.

“That should do it,” she commented aloud while looking at the garden. “Time to head back and get myself a quick cleanup and a quick change.” As she was about to leave the garden, she saw a withered plant in a small pot under one of the tiers.

“Oh dear, I missed one.” She said as she was bending down to pick it up. “I guess I’ll have to throw you away too.”

However, as soon as her fingers brushed the plant, a bright green light suddenly flashed in front of her eyes. To her amazement, the bright green glow was emanating from the withered plant and it was slowly returning to life again! Despite her shock, she tried her best not to drop the pot onto her feet. What was brown and withered was now green and healthy. A large unopened flower bud was nodding off from one of the long and slender stems. When her finger touched the flower bud, it immediately burst into a bright red flower in front of her bewildered eyes. 

She immediately recognized the flower… her favourite flower. Suddenly, the green glow vanished!

“A red lily? How lovely indeed.” She beamed. “I think I’ll keep you in my room.”

At the moment, her vision suddenly became blurry and she blinked for a while. Her hands were still holding the flower pot only this time… a pair of man’s hands were holding the pot with her. The hands were young, fair and gentle. She could tell that the man was wearing a long-sleeved, light blue tunic based from the sleeves ending at his wrists.

“It’s your favourite flower, Lily.” She heard him say. “A lovely flower that matches your name and grace.”

And she could definitely hear another voice replied “Thank you, my beloved.”

Only that voice wasn’t any other voice…

It was HER own voice!

She wanted to look at the man but her eyes were fixed on the hands. She tried to break free from his hold but her hands were petrified.

“This is so not real!” she thought as she was blinking for a few times. Suddenly, the hands vanished from sight. No one else was holding the pot except her and only her alone. 

She looked at her hands, both of them were glowing bright green but the glow was fading away slowly. It gradually disappeared.

“That green glow… wait… what just happened?”

…

Two days had passed after the incident in the bonsai garden. Lily couldn’t get it off her mind but somehow, she could manage to push it off her mind by getting occupied with her other daily chores.

Today, the Xiaolin warriors were doing their chores around the temple since they didn’t have any new quests. Kimiko and Clay were doing their chores inside the temple while Omi and Raimundo were handling the temple’s compound; raking the leaves, trimming off the branches, discarding any damaged items from the compound and other random tasks.

Since Lily was already assigned to the temple’s compound, both Raimundo and Omi had insisted that they should do all the heavy work. She tried reject their offer but both of them were adamant in taking all of the hard jobs.

“Since both Raimundo and I are here,” Omi said when he gave her a garden rake. “I think you should just rake the leaves in the compound.”

“Yeah,” Raimundo nodded. “Leave all the heavy work to us. Besides, you’ve been doing all these jobs alone for quite a while now. Today it’s our turn to help you.”

“But, guys…”

“NO BUTS!” both Omi and Raimundo said in unison.

“Fine, I’ll rake the leaves.” Lily sighed, admitting defeat. “Are you sure that you’ll be fine doing all of those tasks?”

“We’ll be fine,” said Raimundo as he was rolling up his sleeves. “We’ve been here way earlier than you. So, we know what we’re doing.” He winked at her.

“We better make a move now.” Omi said while dragging Raimundo away. “Chat you later, Lily,”

“Err… okay…” Lily waved at them until they had disappeared from view. “My, those two are energetic today. Well, I better get to work now.”

The temple compound was spacious, quite convenient for the disciples to have their daily combat training. There was a large lotus pond with brightly-coloured lotus flowers springing up from the clear waters. Large willow trees with sweeping branches lined around the pond, their fronds were billowing in the wind. Apple trees were full in bloom, their sweet scent lingering in the air. In one corner of the compound, there was a clump of rose bushes and jasmine shrubs. At the far end of the compound, there was a path leading into the nearby forest.

It took her quite a while to rake all the leaves in the compound. After she had managed to rake all the leaves into one area, she decided to take a rest under the shade of a nearby willow tree. A pleasant breeze was blowing and she was worried if the leaves that she had raked earlier was blown away. It would be a chore for her to rake them together all over again.

Without thinking, she raised her hand towards the pile of leaves. Suddenly her hand was glowing green and even the pile of leaves was glowing too. In a split second, the pile of leaves had simply vanished into thin air!

“Whoa!” She gasped when the pile vanished. “How did that happen?” She was so in shock that she toppled backwards. But before she could fall onto the ground, a jasmine shrub suddenly sprung out from the ground and cushioned her; breaking her fall!

“What?” she looked around wildly, astonished to see the jasmine shrub catching her from falling.

“How did I do that?” She got up and inspected the shrub. It was like any other ordinary jasmine shrub; nothing was unusual about it except that it suddenly appeared from the ground!

“Err…” she touched the shrub. “Thank you… I guess?” A flower bloomed from the spot that she had touched. Perhaps the shrub’s response? She picked the flower and sniffed it; it smelled wonderful. She put the flower in her hair. Then she leaned against the willow tree.

“Hmm… I know this is crazy,” she said to herself. “But let’s try something else.”

She looked up towards the willow fronds and pointed her right hand towards them. Immediately her hand was glowing green and so were the fronds. They grew down towards her and began to intertwine themselves into a swing. They finally stopped moving when the swing was completed. As for her hand, the green glow had finally disappeared.

“Wow,” she exclaimed. “It finally worked! I never knew that I can do it.”

She got on the swing and began to rock back and forth, thinking about what else that she should do with her newly-found powers. Should she tell Master Fung and the others?

“Or… I could just keep it as a secret for now.”

…

“Did you see what I see?” Omi whispered to Raimundo as they were spying on Lily behind a tree. 

They were walking towards Lily when they saw something extraordinary; Lily can make a pile of leaves disappear! Not long after that, a jasmine shrub suddenly sprung out from the ground to catch her from falling down! Raimundo had to clamp his mouth and dragged him behind a nearby tree to stop him from screaming at her. Before he could say anything else, Omi nudged him and in front of their astonished eyes, Lily had made a swing from the fronds of a willow tree with a single gesture of her glowing hand!

“Amazing!” Raimundo exclaimed under his breath. Even he couldn’t believe his eyes. Lily had extraordinary powers; she can control trees, plants and its elements! At first, he thought that Lily had purposely hidden her powers from the rest of them all along but he could see that she herself did not really know much about her powers. She seemed a bit confused as well.

“Well, I’ll be…” Clay’s voice made both of them jump. They turned around and saw Clay and Kimiko staring at Lily. Both of them were astonished and amazed with her abilities.

“She has plant-based powers?” Kimiko commented in a hushed tone. “That’s awesome!”

“Yeah,” Omi nodded in agreement. “She can even help us with our quests.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Raimundo shrugged, never taking his eyes off Lily. “Master Fung did tell us that she’s not supposed to join us in our quests. Besides, I don’t think she can fight in a battle, let alone a Showdown.”

“But we can train her,” Omi crossed his arms. “Can we?”

“Like I said,” Raimundo sighed. “I don’t know. We should ask Master Fung about this.”

“Let’s ask him tonight.”

…

“So, all of you are saying that Lily has special powers?” Master Fung said after listening to all of his disciples’ encounter earlier that afternoon. His disciples had requested to meet him privately after dinner so after Lily was off to the kitchen to clean up all of the dishes, the disciples met him in the library. Since the library was a bit far from the kitchen, there was no way that Lily could eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Yes, Master Fung.” Raimundo nodded. “All of us had seen her controlling the trees and plants. Her hands were glowing green whenever she uses her powers.”

Master Fung was deep in thought. How was it possible? “Was she confident in using her powers?"

“Not really,” Raimundo shook his head. “She seemed a bit confused while using it. She didn’t seem to know much about her powers either.”

“But she can be a great addition to our team,” Omi interrupted. “With her powers, we can be victorious in obtaining more Sheng Gong-Wu.”

“I’m not sure if she should be joining the team,” Master Fung sighed. “You see, I have no intention of letting her join the fight. Besides, I don’t think that she even knows how to fight in a battle.”

“But we can train her, right?” Omi replied. “All of us can train her to fight. We can even teach her to use some of the Sheng Gong-Wu.”

“Hmmm…” Master Fung was deep in thought again. What both Raimundo and Omi had said was definitely true but somehow, he didn’t really want Lily to be involve in all of this Sheng Gong-Wu business. 

Especially when she resembled THAT person from 1000 years ago.

“Well,” Master Fung finally relented. “I trust all of you to train her. But I need to see her using her powers in front of me first. Only then I can allow all of you to train her.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Are you sure that all of you are okay with this?” Lily asked when she was dragged along for the warriors’ afternoon practice.

“Of course, Lily.” Omi nodded enthusiastically while dragging her hand.

“Yeah, we’re all okay with this. No worries.” Kimiko agreed nervously as she and Clay followed behind them.

“But where’s Raimundo?” Lily looked around, obviously noticing a missing certain someone.

“He’ll join us in while.” Clay assured her while looking sideways at Kimiko. She shrugged, looking noticeably worried about this. Last night’s conversation was replaying in her mind.

Last night flashback…

“Are you sure that we can train her?” Kimiko asked after Master Fung left the library. “Like you’ve said just now, she doesn’t really know much on using her powers.”

“True,” Raimundo nodded and crossed his arms. “But I did say that we could train her. It is possible though.”

“Yeah,” Omi chided in. “We can help her to have control over her powers. She can help us out in our future quests.”

“But how are we gonna train her?” Clay scratched his head. “She didn’t know that we know about her powers. Surely she’ll suspect us spying on her if we just walked straight up to her and talked about her powers.”

“Hmmm…. Clay’s right,” Kimiko nodded. “We couldn’t just force her to do her training.”

“Then, how?” Omi crossed his arms.

“I guess I’ll train her,” Raimundo stood up. “By using any means that I know how.”

“What do you mean, Raimundo?”

“I just need you guys to trust me. But whatever happens tomorrow, don’t try to stop me.”

End of last night’s flashback…

“Welcome, Lily”

Raimundo greeted them as soon as they walked into the temple’s compound. He was holding an ancient object in his hand; it looked like an amulet with a red stone in its center.

“I see you have your eyes on this,” Raimundo commented when he saw Lily eyeing the amulet in his hand. It was amusing seeing Lily confused like that, she was cute indeed. “This is the Eye of Dashi, a type of Sheng Gong-Wu.”

“A Sheng Gong-what?” Lily tilted her head, clearly puzzled.

“Sheng Gong-Wu,” Raimundo explained while holding up the Eye of Dashi “are ancient artifacts that hold tremendous powers and abilities. There are different types of them; offense, defense, transportation and others. If they ever fall into the wrong hands, the world will be in chaos.”

“So that’s why we’re always on our quests,” Kimiko added. “To gather a lot of them as much as possible before the Heylin side does.”

“Heylin? What’s that?” Lily asked.

“Well…” Omi began to explain. “The Heylin side is evil reincarnated. They are our rivals in collecting the Sheng Gong-Wu. If they have a lot of Sheng Gong-Wu, it will be disastrous for the world and mankind!”

“What he’s trying to say was,” Clay said calmly when he saw Lily shuddered in fear. “The Heylin side are the bad guys and we Xiaolin are the good guys. It’s our job to stop the Heylin side from winning the Sheng Gong-Wu from Xiaolin Showdowns.”

“Err… okay…???” Lily shuddered.   
This was indeed something new for her.   
Sheng Gong-Wu? Heylin? Xiaolin? Xiaolin Showdowns? Disastrous World?   
That’s a lot for her to take in such short notice. 

“But… what does it have to do with me?”

“Well… we want you to be a part of our team.”

“What?” Lily’s mouth gaped in shock. “But… but… but… I can’t fight like all of you.”

“Really now?” Raimundo said while aiming the Sheng Gong-Wu towards her.

“Raimundo, I don’t think-“

“Eye of Dashi!” 

…

“Raimundo! What are you…!” Lily screamed when a bright red bolt of lightning fired out from the Eye of Dashi, narrowly burning her feet. 

“ARE YOU CRAZY?” Lily screamed after another bolt whizzed past her face. Raimundo said nothing as he kept on firing the Eye of Dashi at her.   
She looked at the rest of the Xiaolin warriors, none of them said anything, let alone intervene.   
However, she did see that Kimiko and Clay looked both genuinely worried and guilty. 

“What’s wrong with them?” Lily thought while dodging another bolt. “Can’t they do something?”

“What’s the matter?” Raimundo snapped as he fired another bolt. “Can’t you fight back, Lily?” Another bolt was fired again and this time it almost struck Lily’s left arm.

“Stop it, Raimundo!” Lily pleaded as she was dodging multiple bolts from Raimundo. However, her pleas had fallen onto deaf ears as he kept on firing.

Since pleading didn’t work, Lily had decided to run away. Raimundo was stunned at first but he decided to chase her anyway while firing the bolts.   
Kimiko, Clay and Omi were chasing them too.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Raimundo yelled while firing the bolts. “I’m not finished with you yet!”

“YOU’RE CRAZY!!!” Lily screamed back when a bolt whizzed past her. “What’s got into you…Argh!” She slipped and fell down face first into the ground.   
When she looked up, Raimundo was standing next to her, the Eye of Dashi aimed near her face.

“Eye of Dashi!” Raimundo yelled.

“NO!!!” Lily screamed while shielding her face.

“BOOM!!!”

“Arghhh!!!”

When she unshielded her face, she was met with a peculiar sight.   
In front of her were the remains of what was used to be a wall made from sturdy wood. 

As for Raimundo, he was being bound in an oak tree; his limbs were all bound with vines... Only his head was free. 

She looked at her hands, they were GLOWING bright green.

“Lily… what did you…?” he croaked, fear reflecting in his eyes. 

“What in the world?” Clay gasped.

“What the…?” Kimiko cried.

“Oh dear…” Omi gaped.

Lily turned around and noticed Master Fung was watching everything from the shadows. There was an unexplainable expression on his face.

“That’s enough!”

Everything went black.

…

“I didn’t recall saying that you can hurt her as a form of training,” Master Fung was pacing back and forth in front of his disciples, his voice was serious with suppressed anger. After seeing the fiasco in the temple’s compound, he called off the training. Before he could interrogate Lily, she had already passed out due to shock and had been sent back to her cottage to rest.

Kimiko, Clay and Omi hung their heads in silence. They knew it was unwise to say anything stupid when Master Fung was in this particular mood.

“But we did make her use her powers,” Raimundo began to explain, his voice slightly shaking from the training incident. “At least we do know what she is capable of…”

“But I never said that you can FORCE her to do it…” Master Fung interrupted. “And the rest of you,” he turned towards Kimiko, Clay and Omi. “None of you even stepped in to stop this so-called training.”

“We’re sorry, Master Fung.” The three of them apologized. 

“We have no idea that he was pushing her too far.” Kimiko admitted. “We thought that he was doing the usual training.”

“We never knew that he was dead-on serious about it.” Clay added. Before Omi could add anything else, Master Fung raised his hand for silence.

“That’s enough,” he sighed. “I’m disappointed in all of you. As Xiaolin Warriors, you should know better not to harm the lives of others even in training. I hope all of you will reflect on your actions today. But we do know one thing…” he paused while looking at the four of them. “We do know that she has powers. The only question now is whether that’s the only thing that she could do or are there anything else that we don’t know about her?”

…

“We’re very sorry about what happened earlier,” Kimiko apologized. They were currently in Lily’s cottage and to their relief, she had finally regained consciousness after fainting from shock.

“But you didn’t stop him at all…” Lily muttered softly while looking at Raimundo, her voice shaking in disbelief. “None of you stopped him… You’re in on this… All of you…” She coughed. “How could you?”

“We’re very sorry, Lily.” Kimiko apologized profusely. “We never knew that…” she elbowed Raimundo in the ribs. “he would go to that extent.”

“Yeah,” Clay nodded. “We knew that he wanted to train you but we never knew that he was deadly serious about it.”

“Train me?” Lily looked up at all of them. “Train me for what?”

Kimiko and Clay looked at Omi. Omi nodded and cleared his throat.

“Well,” he began. “We realized that you have an extraordinary ability. One that can control plants and its elements.”

“How do you know?” Lily wanted to say but instead her reply was…

“You were spying on me?” she accused.

“It was an accident!” Raimundo finally blurted out after being silent for quite some time now. “We accidentally saw you using your powers in the compound one day. All of us did.”

“So that’s why all of you suddenly invited me to your training.” Lily snapped, her voice tensing. “Just to prove your point?”

“Well,” Raimundo shifted uncomfortably. “That was one thing. The other reason is that we wanted you to be comfortable in using your powers.”

“What do you mean?” Lily wanted to know.

“From the way you’re using them,” Omi explained. “We can see that you didn’t feel comfortable at all using them. It’s like you’re afraid of them or something.”

“Oh…” Lily finally admitted. “Well… actually I didn’t really know that I have any powers at all. They suddenly came to me just like that. It was indeed scary at first but it was fun to be able to control plants at my own will.”

“That’s why we wanted to train you,” Kimiko commented while glaring at Raimundo, expecting him to finally say something important.

“Lily, we want you to be a part of our team.”

“EHHHHHH????” Lily’s mouth gaped open in shock.

“We can train together and save the world together,” Omi jumped up and down in excitement.

“Yeah,” Clay nodded.

“It will be cool if you’re a part of us.” Kimiko assured her.

“So, what do you say?” Raimundo touched her hand.


	5. Chapter 5

New day, new beginning.

As Lily was tying her hair up, the thought of yesterday’s conversation was playing again in her mind.

Yesterday’s flashback...

“So, what do you say?” Raimundo touched her hand. The rest of the warriors were looking at her, waiting for her answer.

“Well…” Lily paused, hesitating whether she should accept the offer or not. She distinctly remembered that Master Fung didn’t really allow her to be involved with this Sheng Gong-Wu business. However, she definitely needed an opportunity to train her abilities because she might be possessing other unknown abilities… abilities that either beneficial or harmful towards herself and others. Besides, it would be great if she could help the team in their quests too. She clasped her fingers around Raimundo’s hand.

“I’m in your care, please give me the guidance that I need.”

End of flashback...

Today was her first day of training. She was told to wait at the temple compound for her training. As she was waiting for her trainer, she let her mind wander aimlessly.

“I wonder,” she thought to herself. “Who will be my trainer for today? Could it be Master Fung himself? Dojo? Or one of the warriors?” Immediately her thoughts went to Raimundo and she shuddered. “Would I be killed if Raimundo’s my trainer?”

“Well, you’re pretty early for a newbie.”

Lily’s face turned pale at the sound of that particular voice.

“Oh… no…”

…

Raimundo was standing behind her. There was no one else with him.

“What are you doing here?” Lily asked, her voice was shaking slightly with nervousness.

“Well, is that how you should say to your trainer?” Raimundo raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed with her response. 

“For someone so pretty, she was a bit rude…” Raimundo thought to himself while looking at her. “Maybe she was still afraid of me about yesterday?”

“What I’m trying to say is,” Raimundo cleared his throat, trying to keep calm. “Each of us will be training you one-on-one. However, you’ll train with different trainers during different sessions.” He was pleased when Lily was listening attentively. “There are six sessions; Combat, Defense, Stealth and Agility, Meditation, Endurance and Basics of Sheng-Gong Wu. Here is your training schedule.”

“So, I’ll have training sessions EVERYDAY???” Lily’s jaw dropped after she read the schedule. On weekdays she will have sessions from morning until evening. As for weekends, she will have only morning sessions.

“Look on the bright side,” Raimundo tried to lighten things up. “At least someone else will be taking over your chores since all of us want you to focus on your training.” He almost put his arm around her shoulders but he quickly hid his hand.

“The cooking, cleaning and gardening? I wouldn’t have to do any of it at all?” Lily looked up from her schedule. “Will Master Fung be okay with this?”

“Of course,” Raimundo nodded. “Master Fung himself has given his orders and his permission. He hopes that you’ll be able to focus in your training.”

Lily nodded, finally understood what’s in store for her in the near future.

“Since today’s a Thursday,” Raimundo clapped his hands in delight. “You’ll be having Combat sessions, Stealth and Agility sessions and Endurance sessions.”

“And may I know who my trainers will be?” Lily looked at him quizzically.

“You’re looking at one of them now.”

…

“You???” Lily buried her index finger in Raimundo’s chest, clearly shocked with the fact that Raimundo will be training her this morning.

“Now, now…” Raimundo tried to calm her down while slowly removing her finger off his chest. “Come on, it’s not all that bad.”

“Oh yeah?” Lily argued, clearly showing her protest. “You almost killed me yesterday. How could you say that it’s not all that bad?”

“Did I? I don’t think so.” Raimundo simply brushed her off. “Like I said, it’s not that bad.”

“SAYS YOU!” Without warning, Lily suddenly punched him in the face! Luckily, she narrowly missed him just a few mere inches. Raimundo himself was startled when she suddenly lashed out like that but he tried to keep his cool.

“Interesting,” he thought to himself as he was dodging a barrage of punches from Lily. Seeing Raimundo so carefree dodging her punches had made her so angry that she wanted to attack him again. Only this time, she began to kick him.

“Oh dear, she really IS angry.” Raimundo jumped here and there to avoid getting kicked in the groin. “It’s a good thing that she hasn’t started her training. If not, I’m a goner!”

“If you’re so angry,” Raimundo spat while evading a sloppy roundhouse kick. “Try to hit me properly. You couldn’t even land a punch nor a kick on me!”

“OH… YOU!!!” Lily screamed angrily while leaping towards Raimundo, her hands were ready to claw his eyes out! However, before she could even reach Raimundo, she tripped over a random rock and was about to crash headfirst into the grass.

“Whoa! Watch out!” Raimundo swiftly caught her in his arms but he toppled down together with her as he himself lost his footing.

THUD!

“Are you okay?” Raimundo stammered when he realized that Lily was on top of him.

“Yeah.” Lily stammered, blushing in embarrassment when she realized that she was on top of him. “Thanks.” She quickly got up, dusted the grass off her. She was so embarrassed that she did not help Raimundo to get back on his feet.

“Err…”

“Err… I guess that is all for today.”

…

“Well, it’s time for Stealth and Agility,” Kimiko greeted. “I’ll be your tutor for this particular component.”

“Please give me your guidance,” Lily humbly bowed in front of Kimiko, respecting her.

“No need to be so formal,” Kimiko laughed but feeling rather touched by Lily’s gesture of respect. Nobody has ever done such thing for her. “In my class, I want you to learn and to have fun too. Think of it as a workout.”

“Err… okay,” Lily got up to her feet. “If you say so.”

“Great,” Kimiko smiled and pointed towards the large lily pads on the pond’s surface. Unlike regular lily pads, these were folded around the edges like trays. They were scattered here and there and some of them even lined up towards the other side. “Now, let’s begin with your training.”

“Err…?” Lily scratched her head, confused. “Lily pads? What about them?”

“They are a part of your training, Lily. Watch me!”

To Lily’s amazement, Kimiko began to leap into the air and landed onto one of the lily pads. But she didn’t stop there as she was leaping off onto another lily pad and another. Her movements were swift and precise as she didn’t waste any moments staying longer on a lily pad. She kept on leaping here and there until she reached the other side. Then, she backtracked her steps… or jumps… until she was standing again in front of Lily.

“That was so COOL!!!” Lily gushed when Kimiko was standing in front of her. 

“Thanks,” Kimiko beamed. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do the same too.”

“Me?” Lily stammered. “How can I? I don’t think…”

“You can do it,” Kimiko assured her. “I know you can. Just be confident and don’t hesitate.”

“But on lily pads… will it even hold me? I don’t want to ruin such lovely leaves.”

“Hmmm…” Kimiko was deep in thought. "She did have a point though."

“I’ve got that covered.” She snapped her fingers. “See those wooden slabs floating between the lily pads? You need to jump of the slabs. Don’t worry, they can hold your weight but I would advise you not to take more than five seconds on a slab.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

…

Lily was walking back to her quarters and she was soaking wet from Kimiko’s class. She was shivering from the cold and also embarrassment from an incident that had occurred earlier.

Earlier during Kimiko’s class…

“I’m not sure if I’m able to do this,” Lily stammered while looking at the wooden slabs floating on the pond’s surface. “What if I messed up?”

“It’s okay,” Kimiko assured her. “You are here to learn. Just do your best, okay?”

“Well, I’ll try to do my best.” Lily exhaled.

“That’s the spirit!” Kimiko clapped her hands. “Now, take a deep breath and try to cross the pond by jumping off the slabs. Remember, you have to be quick.”

Lily took a deep breath and began to jump off the wooden slabs. Kimiko was astounded to see Lily jumping off the slabs without much difficulty.

“She’s better than I thought.” She thought to herself while watching Lily. “Totally made my work easier.”

“Hey,” Lily thought to herself as she bounced off the floating slabs. “This is easy… way easier than Raimundo’s class.” Speaking of Raimundo, she spotted him watching her from under a shady tree.

“What’s he doing here?” she thought while landing on a floating slab, still kept her eyes on him. He raised an eyebrow when their eyes met.

“Raimundo, what are you… ARGH!!!”

SPLASH!!!

She couldn’t hide her utter embarrassment when she fell into the pond and Raimundo was seeing everything that was happening. As she was struggling to stay afloat with the help of the lily pads, Raimundo just stood by, smirking amusingly at her mishap.

“Gee Kimiko,” Raimundo smirked. “I never knew that your student is a huge klutz.”

“Klutz?” Kimiko scoffed, simply annoyed with his remark. “You’re the one who’s distracting her, you idiot!”

“Oh, really?” Raimundo casually smoothed out his hair, ignoring Kimiko’s angry glare. “Can’t help it that I’m such a dreamboat. You,” he pointed towards Lily who had managed to reach the edge of the pond. “As a Xiaolin Warrior, you should know better not to let anything ruin your concentration during training. That’s the basics of the basics.”

“Yeah, right.” Lily picked off a water weed off her hair and tossed it towards Raimundo. He nimbly dodged her throw.

“Even your aim is bad.” Raimundo callously sneered. “I better whip you up into shape.”

End of flashback...

“Now I know why Kimiko said not to take more than five seconds on a slab,” she opened her door and went into the bathroom to discard her drenched tunic. “That’s why.”

…

“In this Endurance class, you must learn how to endure attacks from the opponents and also from others. Basically, this is one of the classes that also boosts your physical and mental endurance. As a Xiaolin Warrior, it is crucial for you to have both.”

Omi and Lily were standing at the edge of the pond. He was holding the Orb of Toonami and a rope. “For my class, I want to you to be able to endure my attacks.” He pointed towards a pole on a rock jutting out from the pond. “You will be tied up at that pole and you will try to endure the waves and ice attacking you.”

“Need any help?” Lily’s heart sunk when she saw Raimundo stepping out from behind a nearby tree, smirking as he approached them.

“Ah yes,” Omi clapped his hands, oblivious to Lily’s disapproval. “Your help will be much appreciated.” He handed him the rope. “I want you to help me tie Lily at that pole.”

“Tying her up?” Raimundo flashed a sly smile. “Of course. I’ll be delighted to help.”

“Excellent.” Omi nodded. “Now Lily, please follow Raimundo.”

…

“What are you doing here?” Lily seethed as Raimundo was tying her up at the pole. “Are you always going to stalk me?”

“Excuse me,” Raimundo commented as he was securing the ropes. “Why on earth would I want to stalk you? As the leader, it’s my right to observe all the training for noobs like you.”

“Pfft… since when stalking became a right? That’s like invasion of privacy… and who you’re calling a noob?”

Raimundo did not reply but he did purposely tighten up the ropes in response.

…

“Okay, now everything’s has been set.” Omi held the Orb over his head. “Lily, I want you to try to endure my attacks as long as you possibly can.” Raimundo stood beside him, looking at her but did not say anything.

“Let’s begin. Orb of Toonami!”

Water was gushing out from the Orb and they swamped down upon Lily in continuous waves. Lily coughed and shook the water off her face as endless cold waves were crashing down onto her.

“It’s a pity to see her suffering like this,” Raimundo thought while watching Lily getting drenched again and again by the waves. “But this is her training. She has to endure it somehow.” 

It was indeed horrifying! To be swamped down with endless mountainous cold waves was torturing. Lily was thoroughly drenched and her teeth was chattering from the cold. At first, she thought that this could go on for hours but the waves suddenly stopped.

“Now, let’s try something different.” Omi suggested as mist began to swirl around the Orb. “Orb of Toonami… ICE!”

Lily struggled to endure the freeze as she was slowly getting buried under the mounds of snow and ice. Her arms and legs were numb from the cold and it was getting hard for her to breathe as she could feel her lungs and throat were closing up. 

“Is this the end for me?” she thought to herself as her eyes began to close.

…

“That’s enough, Omi.” Raimundo interrupted, alarmed when Lily had already passed out. “She’s almost freezing to death.”

“But it is her training,” Omi argued. “She should be able to endure it.”

“Yeah,” Raimundo snapped, his voice cracking from panic. “But you couldn’t simply expect her to be able to endure BOTH water and ice at the same time on her FIRST DAY! She could be KILLED, you know?”

“Hmmm…” Omi scratched his bald head. “Oh dear! You are right.” At once, all the mounds of ice and snow had stopped. Raimundo swiftly made his way towards Lily and untied the ropes. When the ropes were undone, she fell into his arms. Raimundo bit his lip, trying to fight off the cold himself as he tried to carry her semi-frozen body back on the ground.

“Can’t you spray her with warm water or something?” Raimundo snapped as he was putting her down onto the grass. “She was almost frozen to death!”

“Of course, I can.” Omi raised the Orb above his head. “Warm water… Orb of Toonami!”

Steam began to evaporate off as the warm water slowly defrosting Lily from her semi-frozen state. Raimundo was relieved when all the colour began to return to Lily’s face.

“Hey,” Raimundo gently tapped Lily on her cheeks. “Hey Lily, are you okay?”

No response.

“Hey Lily!” He tried tapping her cheeks again but slightly harder this time. “Come one, please wake up!”

Still no response.

“I don’t want to do this but I need to save her somehow.” Raimundo placed his hands onto Lily’s chest.

“What are you doing?” Omi asked, slightly alarmed with his friend's actions.

“I’m gonna try to save her life.” He began to press his hands against her chest while doing mouth-to-mouth respiratory support. Her ice-cold lips brushed against his but he didn’t care as he was frantically trying to save her life. Omi stood by, looking genuinely worried.

Again, there was no response.

“Come on!” Raimundo prayed as he tried again. “Please, don’t die on me.”

“COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!” Lily woke up, coughing out water.

Both Raimundo and Omi sighed in relief, thankful that Lily survived.

“I’m really sorry, Lily.” Omi profusely apologized. “I should have been more careful during the training. It will never happen again.”

Lily nodded slightly before passing out again.

“We better take her to her room.”

…

Later that night, Raimundo was tossing and turning in his bed. The thought of today’s incident had really scared him and had managed to keep him awake. Lily almost died from the cold but luckily, he had managed to save her in time. Inexplicably, he traced his lips with his fingers, remembering hers.

“No, that wasn’t a real kiss.” He shook his head. “I was trying to save her life. That didn’t count.”

Or so he thought?


	6. Chapter 6

“How are you feeling, Lily?” Raimundo asked Lily when they meet up for their morning training. Yesterday’s training was a disaster since Lily almost died so all of them had decided to tone down their methods of training. He was relieved that she was okay but the thought of yesterday’s incident was lingering in his mind.

“I feel better except for a slight cold… ACHOO!” she sneezed and a small shrub popped up from the place where she had sneezed. The shrub has long, narrow leaves and tiny white blossoms.

“A shrub from a sneeze?” Raimundo knelt down and inspected the shrub. He plucked off a leaf and crushed it. A fragrant lemony scent wafted out from the crushed-up leaves.

“What fragrant leaves,” he smiled while looking at the shrub. “Smells like lemons.”

“Oh?” She knelt down beside him and examined the shrub. “This is Lemon Verbena. We can use it in salads, teas or stuffing. It can also be used to treat colds.”

“Colds?” He raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just say that you have a slight cold?”

“I did?” She looked down at the shrub. “I did. I guess there are a lot of things that I didn’t know about my powers."

“Well, it’s our duty to help you to know more about your powers.” He smiled. “In the meantime, let’s continue with your training.”

“I guess so,” She smiled back at him.

“She does have a sweet smile.” Raimundo thought to himself as he stretched his muscles. “Anyway,” he continued. “Let’s start with the basics.”

…

Throughout the rest of the morning, Raimundo taught Lily about the basics of combat. She was indeed a newbie; she was a bit slow but she did try her best in taking in everything that he had taught her. He even gave out constructive comments to improve her movements.

“You need to fix your aim,” Raimundo commented while adjusting Lily’s arm. “If you have a good aim, you can definitely hit your target.”

“Try to aim at your opponent’s vital points. Whoa!” He dodged aside when she kicked him. “Be careful now.”

“Focus all of your strength in your fist when you punch or hit your target. That can cause a lot of damage to your opponent.”

“Make sure you focus all of your strength in your attacking leg when you want to kick your target. At least you won’t be flying off while kicking your opponent.”

…

“Okay, let’s try sparring with each other.”

“Sparring?” Lily looked up at Raimundo. “You want me to fight you?”

“Well, duh… Isn’t it obvious?”

“Err… if you say so.”

Both of them stood facing each other.

“Well,” Raimundo beckoned her. “What are you waiting for? Come at me.”

“Here I come!” Lily sprinted towards Raimundo, ready to attack him.

Raimundo stayed calm as he dodged Lily’s attacks. He was very close to her as she whizzed past, punching him and kicking him… so close that he could smell her perfume of red lilies. As for Lily, this was one of the moments where she and Raimundo were close to physical contact. When he swiftly dodged her punch, she could see his handsome facial features up close; bushy eyebrows, a cute button nose, clear caramel-toned skin and a soft jawline. She realized that he was indeed handsome; mature-looking but with a playful, childlike demeanor.

As she was thinking about Raimundo, her eyesight suddenly whited out and a silhouette of a man suddenly appeared in front her. The man was standing with his back facing her, his long and spiky hair was billowing in the wind. He started to turn towards her but before he could show her his full face…

“Lily… hey Lily?” Raimundo was waving his hand in front of her face.

“Huh? What?” Lily shook her head. There was nobody else except for the two of them.

“Are you okay?” Raimundo’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “You suddenly freeze up with your fist in the air.”

“Am I?” Lily looked at her fist, it was still up in the air. “I guess I was tired,” she laughed half-heartedly. “Maybe it was the cold?”

“Hmmm…” Raimundo wasn’t convinced at all. “I guess so. Maybe we should call it a day.”

“Yeah… That’s what I was thinking.”

…

“In this Defense class, I will teach you all the basics of defense.”

Clay and Lily were standing in the middle of the temple’s courtyard. There was a tennis ball dispenser beside them.

“As a Xiaolin Warrior, one must know how to attack their opponents and also be able to defend themselves from their attacks.” He placed a hand on the dispenser. “Which is why I wanted to begin our class with this.”

“A tennis ball dispenser?” Lily raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. “What’s that got to do with defense?”

“Think of this as an opponent’s attack. Since you’re new, I think that I should start with the simple ones first before moving on with the harder and harsher ones. Besides,” he added softly. “I know that it isn’t fair to start off right the bat with something difficult.”

“Err…” Lily was speechless, clearly touched by Clay’s kind consideration. Whether he was told beforehand to tone down his training or he had brought up the thought himself, she wasn’t sure but she was entirely grateful for it. 

“Now, Lily…” Clay bent down, adjusting the dispenser’s controls. “I want you to try your best to defend yourself from the tennis balls as long as possible. Bear in mind that an opponent will try attack you at various body parts… especially your… err… ahem…” he cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. “Err… I mean… your vital parts… those parts that are too sensitive can cause a huge pain when inflicted by damage, minimal ones included.” 

He picked up a tennis ball. “By the way, it is best for you to defend yourself because it will be awfully painful when getting bombarded by these.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Good.”

…

When the tennis balls were firing at her, Lily tried her best to defend herself against them. Clay was right all along; IT WAS PAINFUL! Her hands stung whenever she smacked those balls away. However, she did miss a few of them, causing them to hit her instead.

“FOCUS!” Clay shouted as he kept on firing the tennis balls. It was uncomfortable for him to watch Lily being rained down like that but this was for her own good. At least he hadn’t given her brutal lessons like the others.

“Argh!” Lily screamed when a tennis ball smacked her left cheek. The impact was so strong that it sent her toppling backwards and fell into a nearby clump of tall grass. Clay was slightly alarmed but he has to stay his ground.

“Get up, Lily!” Clay yelled while firing the tennis balls. “This is just the tip of the iceberg! You have a long way to go!” He continued to bombard her with the tennis balls as she didn’t move at all. “I SAID, GET UP!!!!”

“As a Xiaolin Warrior,” Clay called out again, continuing to attack her. “You must know how to defend yourself! How are you going to defend other people if you couldn’t defend yourself?”

Still, no answer.

“You want to be the best, then you will have to do your best!”

Again, no answer.

“I KNOW YOU CAN DO BETTER!”

The grass rustled as Lily slowly got back to her feet. Her cheek was slightly swollen and there was a cut on her lip.

“You ain’t gonna drag me down,” she spat, blood trickling down her chin.

…

Later that evening, Lily was told to wait inside the main hall. Shadows danced on the wall as the hall was dimly lit. It was quiet as there was nobody in sight. She shivered in the evening’s silence.

“Lily?”

“Master Fung,” Lily stood up and bowed towards him in respect.

“It’s alright,” Master Fung nodded. “You may rise.” He sat down, cross-legged, in front of her. “Please take your seat.” Lily knelt down and sat; her hands perfectly folded in her lap.

“I’ve seen that you’ve went through a tough time during your training sessions,” Master Fung began, eyeing Lily’s injuries; swollen left cheek, a cut lip and bandaged knuckles. “You’ve suffered quite a lot in this short time.”

Lily looked down, afraid to look at Master Fung in the eyes.

“Would you like me to stop your sufferings?” He asked her. “I can ask them to stop your training. However,” he sighed. “You will return to your original tasks as before.”

“No!” Lily blurted out but covered her mouth in embarrassment. “I’m sorry…” she stammered as Master Fung reeled back in surprise. “I’m really sorry. I’m not ready to let this go. Please don’t give up on me, Master Fung.” She bowed, her forehead touching the floor. “It is indeed hard but I am not giving up.” She was afraid that Master Fung will tell her that she is not ready and she will need to leave the temple. 

Where would she go?

“Lily,” Master Fung patted her head gently while gesturing her to rise. “I know that you are strong-willed and refuse to give up. But I also want you to know that I too haven’t given up on you yet.” He firmly held both of her shoulders. “I know that you can make it through this.”

“Thank you, Master Fung.”

…

“In meditation, you will learn to forget everything else as you focus on yourself. That means that you focus on you and yourself alone.” Master Fung explained as he was lighting up the incense in the copper urn in front of her. “At the same time, you will learn to reconnect within the deepest depths of your heart and soul.” The fragrance of incense was wafting in the air alongside its swirly wisps of smoke, enveloping both of them. “Incense calms you down and it helps you to focus more.”

“Now, Lily,” Master Fung flicked off the remaining flame; it extinguished in a puff of smoke. “I want you to close your eyes and try to reconnect with your inner self.”

“What happens if I managed to reconnect?” Lily asked.

“If you managed to see anything, that means you have managed to do so. It can be your inner desire, your fears, your emotions or your past memories. Just don’t be afraid of them.”

“Okay, Master Fung.”

…

The afternoon wind was blowing gently, carrying the sweet fragrance of the wild blossoms growing in the vast open field underneath the blue sky. Stunned, Lily just stood there, admiring the colourful blooms.

“Lovely flowers, aren’t they?”

A voice is heard… a man’s voice.

She turned around at the sound of the voice but no one was there.

“Hello?”

Only the sound of the breeze is there.

“None of these lovely blossoms match your beauty and grace.”

It was the same voice. It was so foreign and yet so familiar.

Suddenly a random unopened flower sprung out from the ground and it kept on growing until it reached her face. It burst into full bloom as soon as her fingers touched its tip.

“Except this one.”

It was a lily, bright and bold in its bloody crimson hue.

Her favourite flower.

…

“Lily?”

Master Fung’s voice made her eyes flew open rapidly. Before she could answer anything, someone else had entered into the conversation, his voice somewhat full of concern.

“Are you okay?” Raimundo knelt down beside her. “You look slightly pale.”

“Err…” she stammered. “I think… I’m fine.”

“What do you see?” Master Fung raised an eyebrow.

Lily explained to him about the field of flowers and everything that she could remember but somehow, she felt that she had left behind more details. 

What details? She couldn’t remember...


	7. Chapter 7

All of those trainings had taken a toll onto Lily. She was beyond exhausted physically and mentally but she needed to be able to put herself up through the pain and fatigue in order to become a Xiaolin warrior like the rest despite being injured during the process.

“I can’t go on like this,” She sighed when she finally reached her cottage after her evening class had ended. “Getting all beat up in ALMOST every classes” she locked the door “and getting crude remarks from that Raimundo in EVERY classes.” 

She entered her bathroom and removed her used tunic after closing the door. “I know he’s the leader and all but that doesn’t mean that he should be downgrading me in everything I do?” She looked at herself in the mirror. There were bruises here and there on her body; some were almost healed while others were recent. “No, I can’t give up that easily. I’ll have to do something.”

“You’re weak!”

“Is that how a Xiaolin warrior should fight? How pitiful.”

“You suck at aiming a punch!”

“What a weakling.”

“How are we supposed to find the Sheng Gong-Wu with a klutz like you always being caught?”

Raimundo’s taunting voice echoed in her head, replaying on a loop. She covered her ears and looked in the mirror with a new look of determination.

“I’ll show them,” she hissed. “I’ll prove to them. Especially HIM!”

…

Raimundo was resting on his mattress, eyes staring up the ceiling fan but his focus was on that one and only person – Lily.   
It’s been weeks now but she was still not ready to become a Xiaolin warrior.   
To be honest, her training was mediocre. She couldn’t even aim a punch let alone handling a Sheng Gong-Wu properly.

Raimundo’s flashback…

“What’s that?” Lily asked when Raimundo took out an amulet. It looked familiar.

“This,” He explained while holding it up. “Is the Eye of Dashi. It is usually used for attacks. You can use this to attack others.”

“Ohhh…” She snapped her fingers. “Just like last time when you used it on me, right?”

“Ouch! She did remember.” He bit his lip, wincing guiltily.

“Err… yeah…” He stammered. “Sorry about that.” Before she could add on anything else, he cleared his throat. “Anyway, today you’ll be able to learn how to use it properly like the rest of us. Watch.”

She watched him with interest as he aimed the Eye of Dashi towards wooden targets hung on trees and on poles nearby.

“Eye of Dashi!”

A brilliant red light shot out multiple times from the red jewel center and they hit all the targets in a swift succession.

“There,” He held up the Sheng Gong-Wu again after hitting all the targets. “For Sheng Gong-Wu that can attack others, you just simply said its name and it will shoot at the target aimed by you. However, some of them require you to say their name whenever you want to shoot while some do not.” He placed the Eye of Dashi in her hand. “Make sure that you are focused when you wanted to use them or you will fail.”

“Err…” She looked down at the Sheng Gong-Wu in her hands. “What am I supposed to do again?”

“Now it’s your turn.”

“Err…”

...

“I said, FOCUS!!!” Raimundo yelled as he ducked away from the Eye of Dashi. As soon as Lily called its name, blasts of red light were firing off here and there. A few of them did hit the targets but most of them strayed off. Some scorched the trees while some of them burned the grass. Luckily, they were far from the temple for if they were nearby, something else might break!

“I’m trying!” She cried as she tried to control the amulet. However, it turned out the OTHER way around! The amulet was dragging her hand here and there, shooting red beams in the process.

“This is getting way out of hand,” He muttered as he somersaulted here and there, avoiding the beams before tackling her onto the ground, knocking the amulet off her hand in the process.

“I’m sorry…” Lily apologized profusely as Raimundo was picking up the Eye of Dashi from the ground.

“Hmm…” he sighed. “I don’t know whether you are ready to be like the rest us.” He pocketed the amulet. “I was the one who want to make you a warrior but seeing your progress, I guess that we are going nowhere indeed.”

End of flashback...

“I shouldn’t have said those words to her,” Raimundo sighed while staring blankly at the rotating ceiling fan. Seeing Lily’s disappointed face made his heart break. Sure, she was definitely new in this Sheng Gong-Wu business and she was still in the process of discovering her powers. But with their current progress, they were definitely going nowhere. He was in her shoes before this, all of them were. However, they were not WEAK as her.

“No, I will not give up on her. Yet!”

…

“You’re up early today?” Raimundo commented, surprised to see Lily was already doing her morning exercise at the temple’s compound. He expected her to be arriving later but this was something new. She simply glanced up briefly at him before resuming her stretching.

“Is she ignoring me on purpose?” He looked at her, slightly stung from her lack of attention towards him.

“Are you still offended?”

Silence.

“That’s no way to treat your TUTOR!” Raimundo snapped, reaching forward to grab her shoulders.

SLAP!!!

Lily suddenly turned around and grabbed his wrist, twisting it.

“WHAT are you doing?” she seethed, gripping his wrist harder.

“What are YOU doing?” Raimundo tried to wrench out his wrist but she had him in a steel-like grip. “Let go… I said, LET GO!” he aimed a punch towards her but missed when she quickly ducked down, successfully evading his blow.

“What are you…?”

WHAM!!!

In a split second, he was already lying on the ground, writhing in pain while clutching his knee.

“ARGH! WHAT THE HELL?” He slowly trying to get back up while trying to fight the pain. She just stood beside him, crossing her arms while looking at him with a dangerous glint in her eyes. She didn’t move, she didn’t budge.

“Well, are you going to teach me or not?” Lily snapped impatiently. “We didn’t have all day for this.”

“EXCUSE ME?” Raimundo snapped back, taken aback with her harsh tone. “What did you say?”

“Well, are you going to teach me or NOT?” she repeated, louder this time.

“Just you wait.”

…

“What’s up with you?” Omi commented when Raimundo walked into their common room. “You look TERRIBLE.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you at your worst.” Kimiko looked up from her smartphone as soon as he sat down beside her. He was covered in bruises and there were leaves and twigs in his messy hair. She pulled out a scrawny twig and tossed it into a nearby trash can. “This is DEFINTELY one of your absolute worst.”

“Got into a catfight?” Clay lowered down his comic book.

“You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through today.” Raimundo laid down, resting his arm on his face.

“What in the hell happened?”

“Well…”

…

“Hold up, you’re saying that Lily did this to you?” Clay’s mouth hung open is disbelief after Raimundo had finished telling his painful ordeal with Lily. He was still in denial that she would do this to him despite having powers and he knew that she was not the type of person to vent out her revenge.

“No wonder you got shrubbery in your hair,” Omi calmly plucked out the leaves and twigs from Raimundo’s hair. “She LITERALLY got you shrubbed.”

“Well,” Kimiko crossed her arms. “You kinda DESERVED it though.”

“Excuse me?” Raimundo demanded while Clay and Omi were staring at her. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it,” Kimiko said calmly. “You’re the only one who always giving NASTY remarks towards her. Saying her training was mediocre and all. Who in the right mind would withstand such crude comments?”

“I was trying to MOTIVATE her,” Raimundo sighed, trying to defend his actions but didn’t deny the fact that he did give out rude comments towards her training.

“Mhmm-hmmm…. Yeah… right…” Kimiko flipped her hair across her shoulder. “I think you are doing a totally good job in doing the OPPOSITE way.”

“But…”

“You should know better for not messing with her.” Kimiko narrowed her eyes towards the Dragon of Wind.

“Whatever,” Raimundo shrugged, ignoring her warning. “Anyway, you guys should be very careful while teaching her. I don’t want any of you to end up like me.”

“Err… yeah…”

“Right.”

…

Since it was Clay’s class later in the afternoon, Raimundo had decided to spy on Lily just in case she went berserk again. He expected her to go all crazy and lashing out in all directions and knowing Clay, he knew that he would not dare to harm Lily in any way. He was impressed that the Dragon of Earth had managed to keep his gentleman-like attitude towards women even though they were from the enemy.

However, an extraordinary thing had happened!

In front of his astonished eyes, Lily was seen dodging all of the tennis balls that were being fired towards her and she looked calm and confident while effortlessly evading all of the attacks. It was like watching a dance; her movements were nimble and smooth.

“You’re doing very well, Lily!” he heard Clay praising her while reloading the tennis ball dispenser. “You have improved quite a lot. I’m impressed!”

“Thank you, Clay,” She bowed down in gratitude. “I have to keep on improving myself so that I can be the best like all of you.”

“That’s the spirit!” He cheered. “Shall we continue?”

“Yes, please.”

…

“Well, she seemed to be improving quite a lot.” Raimundo muttered to himself while staring at the rotating ceiling fan. He was impressed that Lily could improve herself in such a short time; all of her movements and reflexes were progressing smoothly and gradually. However, he was still surprised that she had treated his other comrades with upmost respect during their sessions. She even talked nicely with them without having the need to scream and shout unlike in his own class; she rarely spoke nicely to him as she usually snapped at him with disrespect. He did try to protest but Lily snapped back at him.

“What a snowflake! Man up will you?”

That totally left him stung. Bad.

He did try to confront her but whether she ignored him on purpose or just simply didn’t care… he just didn’t have a clue.

“You kinda deserved it though…”

Kimiko’s words echoed in her mind.

“I guess I did rub her off the wrong way,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t say all of those mean words to her. She did have a hard time trying her best but all I did was push her down without acknowledging all of her hard effort.”

…

“Come at me.”

“What?”

“I said, come at ME!” Lily snapped, barraging Raimundo with swift punches. “WHAT ARE YA? DEAF?”

“That’s not the way to talk,” he tried his best to dodge all of them, “to your tutor!”

“Whatever,” she kept on attacking him. “you’re the WORST!”

“What…” He stumbled backwards as her fist came too dangerously close to his face. In a split second, he noticed there were cuts and bruises on her knuckles.

“What are THESE?” He caught her hand by surprise. “All of these cuts and bruises on your hand, where did you get them?”

“WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?” She snapped, feeling angry and embarrassed at the same time. “It doesn’t matter at all to you, does it?” She tried to shake her hand free but his grip was so strong that it hurt!

“OF COURSE, I CARED!” He snapped back. “YOU JUST DIDN’T GIVE ME A CHANCE TO PROVE IT!”

Lily was stunned in disbelief. “Wait…” her voice shaking. “What do you mean?”

“Damn it,” Raimundo bit his lip. “How did I lose control like that?”

“Err…” he fumbled through his words. “I mean… err… of course I cared. Why shouldn’t I be?”

She wrenched her hand off his hold and swiftly covered her exposed hand.

“Because you NEVER believed in me,” she said softly before walking away.

“Lily, wait!”

Meanwhile behind a nearby tree, the rest of the warriors were spying on them.

“Ooh,” Omi commented as Lily was walking away from Raimundo. “A storm is brewing.”

“She really IS mad.” Clay sighed.

“Hmmm…” Kimiko was deep in thought. “I knew it.” She definitely knew something was wrong after seeing Lily treated her tutors differently. She was kind and polite with the rest of them but she was giving out a nasty attitude ONLY towards Raimundo. Something must be done.

…

“Can I talk with you for a moment?” Kimiko stopped Lily in the hallway. Noticed her slightly worried face, Lily was surprised indeed.

“Yes, what’s wrong?” she wanted to know.

“Well,” Kimiko began. “You’ve seemed quite tensed up recently. Did something happen?”

“No…” Lily stammered. “Not really. Nothing much. Perhaps I was tired.”

“Oh…” Kimiko’s voice trailed off. “From the training perhaps?”

“Err, yeah…” Lily shrugged, trying to leave. “See you later.”

“Wait,” Kimiko grabbed her arm. “Did Raimundo do anything to you?”

“Raimundo?” Lily thought. “How does she know?” she wanted to say but instead…

“What did he complain about me this time?”

“So, it is true,” Kimiko thought. “Raimundo definitely had done something bad to her.”

“Actually, I was walking past your training with him and I can see you literally screaming in his face. You looked terribly angry. Anything you wanted to share?”

Silence…

“You can always tell me,” Kimiko tried again.

“Well…” They sat down and Lily began to explain everything that Raimundo had done towards her. All of the mockery and harsh comments, she told everything to Kimiko who was listening patiently to her and she was never interrupted even for once.

“In the end,” Lily concluded. “I was terribly offended with him. I’ve tried my best but somehow it was not good enough for him.”

“I think that he just wanted you to do the best that you can.” Kimiko sighed. “No, I’m not saying that I’m on his side or anything but he just wanted you to be the best that you ever can be. He can be a total JERK at most of the times but he has a kind heart despite his annoying, showoff persona.”

“OF COURSE, I CARED! YOU JUST DIDN’T GIVE ME A CHANCE TO PROVE IT!” Raimundo’s voice was echoing in Lily’s mind. She felt a sudden pang of guilt from her rotten attitude towards him. 

“Oh dear…”

…

“Huarghhh…” Raimundo yawned. “I’m so sleepy and yet I cannot sleep a wink.” It was 1.00am in the morning and he was awake despite feeling physically drained from all the daytime drama. Since twisting and turning didn’t work, he decided to get up and take a walk in the crisp summer night’s air. “Perhaps the cool air can help me out,” he thought as he was walking down the deserted corridor. 

As he was walking, he saw someone’s silhouette walking past by him. “Who could be up at this hour?” He thought as it was heading towards the dark forest behind the temple. “Was it a spy or something?” Curious, he decided to follow it; making very minimal sounds as possible.

He immediately hid behind a nearby bush as soon as they reached a clearing in the middle of the forest. The clouds finally cleared off, making the lovely moonlight shone down onto everything; giving him a clearer image of this mysterious person in front of him.

“Lily?”

…

In front of his astonished eyes, he saw Lily’s hands were glowing green and at once, gigantic tree vines were sprouting up from the ground! They were trashing about and were aiming towards her, trying to knock her off her feet as she was swiftly avoiding them while smacking them away bare-handed. She balled up her fists tightly and began to pummel down all of the vines, sending pieces of them flying off into the air!

“No wonder she’s so good in Clay’s and Kimiko’s classes,” Raimundo thought while she was defending herself from the attacks. After the vines died down, her hands began to glow green again and multiple plant-based humanoids rose up from the ground around her.

“Whoa! She creates new life?” He exclaimed quietly as the humanoids began to attack her in hand-in-hand combat. Despite the humanoids were created from plants, they did not give in too easily as they kept on barraging her with attacks.

“Argh!” Lily yelped in pain as one managed to hit her at her side. It sent her flying into a nearby tree not far from his hiding place.

“Not yet!” She seethed while clambering out from the tree before leaping up into the air. As soon as she was about to crash onto the creatures, she began flinging out barrages of punches at them, reducing them to piles of dried leaves and twigs that were sent off flying to multiple directions.

“OUCH!” Raimundo cried as a large twig smacked him on top of his head. “Shit! My cover’s blown!”

“Who’s there?” Lily snapped; her right hand was glowing green. “Show yourself!” Vines around her feet began to move and they swiftly approached a nearby bush. A struggle was heard as the vines were fighting off something inside the bush.

“Show yourself!” Lily made a pulling gesture with her glowing right hand.

“Hey!”

…

“What are YOU doing here?” Lily crossed her arms; her eyes were narrowing into slits as she watched Raimundo hanging upside down from his ankles, twigs and leaves were jutting out from his messy hair. How much has he had seen?

“Yeah, the same thing that I was going to ask you too.” He grumbled, feeling slightly lightheaded from all the blood flowing down into his head. “Would you mind putting me down? Getting dizzy right now.”

With a flick of her wrist, the vines immediately set him free.

THUMP!

“OUCH!”

“There,” Lily said coldly while Raimundo dusted himself off from the fall. “You’re welcome.”

“Whoa!” He yelped as she suddenly rammed him into a nearby tree, locking his wrists in her grasp. “What are you-?”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” she demanded angrily, tightening her grip. “WERE YOU SPYING ON ME?” Her lovely face was slowly blushing with anger and embarrassment. 

“She is definitely MAD…” He thought to himself after seeing her face went pink. “ANSWER ME!” she screamed.

“I’m here neither to fight nor to spy on you,” he sighed.

“So?”

“I’m here to make things right again,” he muttered softly.

“Wha-?” Her voice mellowed down and her hands were slowly loosening their grip. “What do you mean?” she stammered, her voice slightly shaking.

“What I meant was,” he took a deep breath, staring directly into her lovely hazel eyes; those same eyes that took his heart from their first meeting. “I know that I’m not the best tutor that you ever had and I know that I was a total jerk for not even noticing your hard work despite you had always tried your best during the sessions. I even said so many things towards you; bad things that I shouldn’t be saying at all. In the end, all I ever did was hurting you instead.”

Lily felt all of her anger was slowly ebbing away after hearing Raimundo’s words. “Is he finally apologizing to me?” she wanted to know. Slowly, she let go of his wrists.

“I know that I’ve hurt you,” he gently took her hands into his. “I’m sorry for being a jerk,” his voice cracking as he apologized. “Causing you all of this pain, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she finally smiled after a pause. Seeing him apologizing sincerely had finally made that tall icy wall of ego within her heart thaw. “I forgive you… and I’m sorry too.” 

“But…” she looked at him directly in the eyes. “I should be thanking you too for pushing me too hard. Somehow your NASTY words,” her emphasis on the word NASTY made his head drooping in embarrassment. “Made me to push myself to become better as quickly as possible. So, I took it up to myself to train hard every night to improve myself and my powers.”

“And it did pay off, is it?” He smiled weakly. “I can see that you have improved tremendously from before and in just a short time too.” He squeezed her hands. “You’ve done well and as your tutor, I’m really proud of you.”

“Thank you, Raimundo.”


	8. Chapter 8

Tonight is Lily’s recognition ceremony. 

After enduring various training from Master Fung and the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors especially Raimundo for three months, she can now finally stand on the same ground as the rest of them. Those three months were not an easy feat, it was brutal. How many times she was about to give in to the pressure from the training but she refused to back down because she knew that they were just wanted her to do her best. As she was putting finishing touches on her makeup, a knock on the door almost made her smudge her eyeliner.

“Wait for a moment,” she called out while dabbing on perfume on her wrists and neck. “I’m almost done.”

“You look ravishing,” Raimundo complimented when she opened the door. She was stunning despite just wearing her red tunic but her long brown hair was piled up high in a bun with a crimson red lily and her face was lively with soft makeup that accentuated her facial features.

“Thank you, Raimundo,” she thanked him while looking him up and down. This was her first time seeing him in his Shoku General outfit: a black tunic with red detailing, gold sash and red pants. “You look great, too.”

“Thank you, Lily. Shall we go now?”

…

When they reached the temple’s main hall, everyone else were already seated in their positions and they were also dressed for the ceremony. Master Fung was in a tunic similar to Raimundo’s but his was dark blue with silver detailing. As for the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors, they were dressed in similar tunics; red with white trimmings. 

“Please kneel down in front of Master Fung,” Raimundo instructed as he was taking his place beside their master. As soon as he sat down, Master Fung stood up and walked towards Lily. He placed his right hand on top of her head. She felt a chill running down her spine as he did so.

“Lily,” he began, his voice echoing off the hall’s walls. “You have done well during your three-month training. I’m sure that during that time you have learned a lot regardless all of the hardships that you have faced. Based from my observation, you have improved tremendously in terms of your abilities and your character. You have impressed me and also the rest of us.”

“Thank you, Master Fung.” Lily nodded humbly with gratitude.

“With that,” the air become slightly chilly. “I hereby bestow upon you title of the Xiaolin Dragon of Wood. A fitting title indeed for someone like you. Like plants and trees, I hope that you will continue to grow and improve yourself until the highest level.”

“Thank you, Master Fung.” Lily nodded, again.

“With this title, you will now be able to join the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors on their Sheng Gong-Wu quests. I hope that you will do your best in the future.”

“Thank you, Master Fung.”

…

“Congratulations, Lily!” Kimiko hugged her as they were walking out from the main hall.

“Yeah,” Clay high-fived her. “Now you’re one of us now. A part of the dream team.”

“Oh yes,” Omi jumped up and down in excitement. “Now you can finally join us in our Sheng Gong-Wu quests.”

“Thank you, all of you.” Lily smiled. “If it weren’t for you guys, I would never have reached this far. All of those trainings had totally helped me.”

“Yeah right…” Raimundo smirked. “All of those accidents and slip-ups had really helped you… a lot.”

“Really, Raimundo?” Kimiko punched his arm. “You really had to remind her all of those incidents on a night like tonight?” She couldn’t believe that he really had to spoil tonight’s mood. Lily had just been promoted to a Xiaolin Warrior and here’s Raimundo purposely throwing shade at her like he always did. Sometime she wondered, why does he always trying to cook up a fight whenever Lily is around. He was their leader but he was indeed annoying at times.

“I’m just stating the truth,” Raimundo scoffed while rubbing his arm. It was indeed painful. “What’s up with you?”

“Now, now…” Lily tried to calm things down as everything began to tense up. “No need to fight over the past. Raimundo’s right, I did have a lot of slip-ups during training but all of them had helped me to become stronger.” 

It was true, she did screw up during the training sessions and Raimundo did say NASTY stuff towards her for being weak. However, it was him that had lit that fire of determination within her, making her to improve herself to become the best. He had already apologized to her when he had caught her practicing her skills late at night in the forest so all was good.

“See,” Raimundo nudged Kimiko. “She’s clearly alright with it.”

…

Last week’s recognition ceremony felt so surreal. Lily still couldn’t believe that she is now the Xiaolin Dragon of Wood – a title fitting enough with her plant-based powers. She could finally stand on the same ground with the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors, only that hers was slightly lower than the others. However, she didn’t mind about it at all and even the rest of them still accepted her nevertheless.

“This is boring,” she sighed while sweeping the leaves off the temple’s lawn. “I’ve become the Dragon of Wood for one week now but no Sheng Gong-Wu quests whatsoever.” It was a hot, summer day and the rest of the Xiaolin warriors were simply chilling under the willow tree beside the pond.

“Patience, now.” Omi commented as he was picking up fallen twigs and branches off the ground. “You’ll have your chance soon enough.” He put the twigs and branches onto a pile of leaves that Lily had swept earlier.

“Yeah,” Kimiko nodded without looking up from her smartphone. “At least you can spend this spare time to relax and do whatever you want.”

“Back in our time when we were newbies,” Clay tossed a pebble into the air and caught it. “We had our first ever Sheng Gong-Wu hunt against Jack Spicer.”

“Jack Who?” Lily wanted to know. A funny name indeed.

“Jack Spicer,” Raimundo stepped out from behind a nearby tree and sat down beside Kimiko. “He is from the Heylin side – the enemy. He had an arsenal of technology and armed with his Jack-Bots, his robot creations. He calls himself the Evil Boy Genius… an ironic name for an idiot like him. He couldn’t even use some of the Sheng Gong-Wu properly.”

“But don’t let his idiotic antics fool you,” warned Kimiko. “He may be an idiot but he can still outsmart us. He is cunning though.”

“That’s because he had Wuya by his side.”

“Wuya?” Lily tilted her head. “Who’s Wuya?”

“Wuya is a powerful evil witch.” Raimundo calmly explained while silently admiring Lily’s puzzled but cute face. “She had been imprisoned in an ancient puzzle box by Grand Master Dashi from many, many years ago. However, Jack Spicer had set her free and now they are partners in crime, trying to collect as many Sheng Gong-Wu as they can so that they can take over the world.”

“But sometimes she acted out on her own free will since she was not entirely bound with Jack. She was too smart to handle his stupid antics.”

“Ohh…” Lily snapped her fingers towards the pile of leaves and twigs. They instantly disappeared with a POOF! Before she could say anything else, something long and green swooped down from the branches above them.

“Gear up folks! Sheng Gong-Wu alert!”

…

“Bangle of Blooms,” Master Fung read the description of the newly-activated Sheng Gong-Wu in the parchment scroll. Alongside with the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors, Lily huddled close so that she could she the Sheng Gong-Wu better. It looked like just any other piece of jewelry: intertwined leafy vines made of emeralds and gold shaped into a bangle and adorned with a flower made from sparkling precious gemstones such as rubies, sapphires, diamonds, amethyst and topaz. It looked exceptionally pretty.

“A flowery bangle?” Omi sighed. “That’s pretty girly. We don’t want that… Ouch!”

“Serves you right,” Kimiko flexed her fingers. It irked her whenever Omi made rude comments about something too girly and such. Whatever it was, it is still a Sheng Gong-Wu.

“Ahem…” Master Fung coughed. “It enables the wearer to control nature and its elements. The gemstones each represented different elements. The wearer could even manipulate the elements. It is a frightening Sheng Gong-Wu indeed.”

“That’s where we come in, let’s go everyone!”

…

“This particular Sheng Gong-Wu really likes to choose someplace inaccessible eh?” Lily commented as they were soaring through the sky across the ocean. The ocean’s wind was blowing hard on her face and she clutched Dojo’s reigns tightly, fearing that she may fall off from him. But at the same time, she was enjoying herself as this was her first time ever riding a real-life dragon!

“Most of them do,” Raimundo commented while trying to hide his admiration towards her; she looked stunning despite the wind was blowing her hair. “They prefer difficult places in order to challenge those who are hunting for them. However, there are a few that are simply hidden in plain sight… places that no one would ever expect them to be there.”

“We’re almost there,” Dojo called out as he was descending down. There was a small rocky island and on one of its rocky outcrops, a small cave opening. “That’s our cave!”

…

“Urghh… this dampness is ruining my hair…” Kimiko complained as they ventured deeper into the cave. They were split into 3 groups; 2 were in pairs while Raimundo had volunteered to go off on his own. 

“It’s sure is chilly,” Lily sighed, pulling her jacket tighter around her body. The camp was damp but it was chilly due to the wind blowing somewhere from inside the cave. She looked around and there were no plants, fungus or moss growing inside the cave. Only then she remembered that they were inside a cave on a rocky island, nothing was suitable for growing here. They kept on walking until they reached a fork.

“Now what?” Kimiko crossed her arms. “Which way should we go?” She turned towards Lily and she wasn’t there!

“Hey, Lily?” she called out again and noticed that Lily had already walked through one of the paths. Still, no response.

“Hey! Wait for me!”

She broke into a run and chased after Lily. She kept on calling her name but she didn’t answer back.

“What’s up with her?” She kept on running until she could see Lily in front of her. But before she could grab her hand, she suddenly disappeared!

SPLASH!!!

“OH NO!!!”

…

“Huh???”

Lily opened her eyes as soon as she felt the wet coldness on her skin. She felt like as if she was floating but there was nothing but darkness surrounding her. It was icy cold too.

“Am I dead?”

“Li… Li… Li… Ly… Li… Ly… Lily…”

Someone’s voice was echoing through the gloom. She tried to turn around but there was only pitch-black darkness. Whenever she moved, a whooshing sound was heard.

“Wait… did I drown?”

FLASH!!!

A burst of white light suddenly appeared not too far from her. It was too bright that it literally lighted up her surroundings. Sure enough, she was indeed underwater with her clothes somewhat floating off her. No wonder she felt the wet coldness and the floating sensation earlier. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the seabed beneath her feet.

“I better get myself moving!”

She swiftly swam towards the bright light regardless not knowing what it really was. It could be either a friend or a foe but at least it was better than literally drowning to death. As she kept swimming along, she realized that she could breathe as usual as if she was on the ground. She didn’t feel any water rushing into her lungs. Nothing at all. Whether it was an unknown part of her powers or just a fraction of luck? 

She didn’t dare to have time to ponder about it just in case she ran out of air!

…

“What do you mean she simply disappeared?”

“I don’t know! She simply walked off on her own and suddenly vanished!”

Raimundo was pacing up and down near the hole where Lily vanished. The rest of his team immediately came to Kimiko’s side when they heard her scream. This was Lily’s first ever Sheng Gong-Wu quest and already she’s in trouble. Of course, he was worried; professionally AND personally. Besides, what would Master Fung say? He peered into the hole; it was filled with nothing but darkness. It was very deep as he could only hear faint sounds of water lapping at the sides of the hole.

“What are you doing?” Kimiko asked when Raimundo seemed as if he wanted to jump off into the hole. 

“I want to save her.”

“What are you, nuts? It’s pretty dark down there.”

“She’ll drown if I don’t!”

“No!” Kimiko grabbed his arm. “YOU'LL DROWN!”

“I DON’T CARE!” Raimundo wrenched his arm free. “I STILL WANT TO SAVE HER!”

“SHUT UP!” Clay who was silent throughout the time finally spoke up. He was very agitated with Kimiko and Raimundo fighting with each other especially during these trying times. “Nothing can be done if both of you were fighting like cats and dogs!” Feeling satisfied when both of them were silenced, he could finally turn his attention to Omi.

“Can’t you do something?”

“Maybe I could try to float her upwards?”

“Just do whatever you can.”

Before Omi could even do anything, the cave began to rumble loudly and a loud gurgling sound can be heard from deep within the hole.

“WHOA!!!”

“LOOK OUT!!!”

WHOOSH!!!

A huge stream of water suddenly shot upwards from the hole and it swamped down the Xiaolin Warriors like a huge tidal wave!

“Omi!”

“Orb of Toonami!”

The water swiftly receded and at one corner of the cave…

“LILY!!!”

Crumpled into a soggy heap, it was definitely Lily. However, she didn’t move at all.

“Hey, Lily!”

“Lily, wake up!”

“Wait, look at her wrist!”

Her right wrist was glowing and upon closer inspection, it was the Bangle of Blooms – the Sheng Gong-Wu that they were looking for all this time!

“She did it!”

“How did she find it?”

“How did it get to her?”

Questions were fired but she did not stir at all.

“She’s cold as ice,” Kimiko touched her cheek and reeled back in shock.

“We should return to the temple; our job is done here anyway. Besides,” Raimundo stole a glance towards Lily. “She is hurt.”

…

“I fell through a hole?”

The warriors were back at the temple and they were currently in Lily’s room. Kimiko quickly attended her and right now all of them were huddling around her bed, eager to know everything.

“Well,” Kimiko began. “You kinda wandered off on your own after we saw the fork in the cave. I tried calling you but you didn’t answer me.”

“You did?” Lily was puzzled. “I didn’t realize.”

“Really?” Kimiko’s turn to become puzzled herself. “Anyway, as soon as I was near, you simply vanished. It turned out that you fell through that hole in the cave, straight into the ocean.”

“Ohh…”

“Ohh?” Raimundo snapped. “You made us worried! YOU COULD'VE DIED!!!”

“But she didn’t.” Clay said quietly. “Very dodgy indeed… But… How? Why?”

“I don’t know.” Lily shrugged. “I opened my eyes when I realized that everything was wet and cold and I felt that I was floating.”

“You should’ve drowned.” Omi commented. “You were in water.”

“I know that but I could breathe as usual.”

“And how did this end up on your wrist?” Raimundo handed her the bangle.

“Eh?” Lily examined the bangle. “I don’t know.” She was confused as she did not recall having the bejeweled bangle on her wrist. It was exceptionally pretty after being seen up close. “I really don’t know.”

“Hmmm…” Raimundo was staring intently at her, unconvinced that she did not know about the bangle. “At least you’re okay, for now.”

…

Later that night…

“So… you’re saying that she simply walked off on her own, fell through into a hole connecting to the seabed, got blasted off with water and the bangle was already on her wrist?”

“That’s what she told us, Master.” Raimundo bowed.

“Hmmm…” Master Fung was deep in thought. Ever since the warriors had returned, fully drenched with Clay carrying an unconscious Lily, he knew that something had happened during their quest. Since this was her first quest, there shouldn’t be a problem since he believed that no one else had picked up the signal. Besides, this particular Sheng Gong-Wu was located far off shore, in the middle of nowhere. But something was definitely off, why did she walk off on her own? She could’ve heard Kimiko calling her in the first place. Besides, she didn’t even drown while she was underwater. A BIZZARE thing indeed!

“Did she say anything else?”

“No, Master Fung.”

“I think maybe there is something else about her that we didn’t know. Hidden and unknown powers perhaps?”

“Maybe…”

…

“I want you to keep a close eye on her. As a leader, you should be able to take care of her.”

Master Fung’s words kept on playing in his mind like an audio loop on replay. True, it was definitely his responsibility to take care of Lily but it was definitely an OPPORTUNITY for him to be able to know her better. There was so much things about her that he didn’t know. Ever since she came to this temple, he felt happier than ever. Her personality, charm and beauty made him feeling more intrigued to know more about her. However, she had never opened up about herself nor her background.

“This is my chance,” he thought to himself as he was standing in front of Lily’s door. “I can finally try to get close to her without sounding like an obsessive psycho.” He froze as soon as his hand was about to knock on her door, hesitating whether he should continue or not. “Wait… here I am standing in front of her door, at night. Isn’t this too psycho enough?” He looked at the door again. “No, I will not back down too easily.” He took a deep breath.

“Knock… knock… knock…”

“Yes? Who is it?” Lily looked up from her poetry book, wondering who would visit her around these late hours.

“It’s me, Raimundo…”

…  
“No, you don’t have to be so courteous,” Raimundo sighed in embarrassment as Lily was putting down two cups of chamomile tea in front of him. He was just stopping by, not really wanting to stay over for long no matter how badly he wanted to do so.

“You’re my guest,” she said politely while taking a seat beside him. “Of course, I should be treating you well. Besides,” she pointed towards the cups. “Chamomile tea helps you sleep better.”

“Err… Thank you,” he smiled while picking up his cup of tea. “Thank you… I guess.” He sipped the tea. It was warm and fragrant. “This tea is lovely,” he praised, making her blush while sipping her own tea.

“Anyway,” she began after putting down her cup. “What brings you here around this time of hour? It’s getting late, you know?”

“Err…” he stammered. “I’m just want to ask you whether you are okay or not… well, after all the things that you’ve went through today.”

“Well,” she paused, slightly surprised. “I’m okay now… I think so.”

“I’m glad that you’re okay,” he gently placed his hand on hers. “You’ve had us worried back then. Me included.”

Immediately, she felt something had PUNCHED her. It was terribly painful but she quickly clamped her lips shut while her right hand clutching her chest.

“Whoa,” Noticing her grimacing in pain, her swiftly held her shoulders. “Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she wheezed, trying to withstand the pain. “Perhaps I’m still tired. Maybe I’ll…” her voice trailed off as she slumped forward into his chest.

“Hey, Lily…” He tried to wake her up but there was no response. Perhaps she was still in shock. He wrapped his arms around her with his chin resting on top of her head. He could smell the alluring fragrance of fresh lilies from her hair. He tilted her head up towards him and noticed that she had fallen asleep. “If only I could tell her what I really feel.” He thought to himself while gently kissing her forehead before leaning in towards her, their faces were merely inches away from each other.

“Oh, dear!” He gasped as soon as his lips were almost touching hers. “I should not be doing this.”

Gently, he carried her towards the bedroom and laid her down onto her bed. Luckily, she didn’t stir at all.

“Goodnight, Lily.”

…

Meanwhile…

“ARGHHH!!!” Chase Young was on the floor, writhing in pain. “What is wrong with me? This is impossible!”

SLAM! CRACK!

At once the pain finally subsided. He slowly got up to his feet, wheezing slightly.

“Could it be?”


	9. Chapter 9

Ever since her misstep in her first Sheng Gong-Wu quest, Lily began to doubt herself whether she was capable enough to be a Xiaolin Warrior like the rest of her companions.

“Why would you say that?” Kimiko was surprised when Lily confronted her about it as they were cleaning up the kitchen. “You are as worthy as the rest of us. Don’t put yourself down because of that incident.”

“True…” Lily shrugged while wiping down the stove. “But I almost made Raimundo drown in order to save me.”

“Oh that…” Kimiko sighed as she was placing back the plates in their cupboards. “When he knew that you were down there, he insisted to jump off to save you… no matter how crazy the situation was. He really wanted to save you.”

“But why?” Lily wanted to know.

“Let me tell you something about him,” Kimiko closed the cupboard shut before taking all of the kitchen utensils beside her. “Sure, he can be an asshole and a total jerk at times but when it comes to friendships and companions, he will be there to save the day if they were in trouble.” She kept the utensils in a drawer. “He treasures his friends and companions very much... so much that he is willing to put his own life down for them. That is why he was terribly worried about you.”

“I’m his companion?”

“Well, you are one of us. Of course, you are his AND our companion too.”

…

“It’s time for our Sheng Gong-Wu practice,” Raimundo called out the rest of his companions while carrying a small sack on his back. All of them were chilling under the willow tree beside the pond later in the evening and they began to crowd around him as soon as he puts down the sack and peered it open. Inside there were various Sheng Gong-Wu including Eye of Dashi, Tangle Web Comb, Three-Arm Sash, Orb of Toonami and Mantis Flip Coin. The rest of them began to take their preferred Sheng Gong-Wu and began their routine practice.

“That’s odd,” he commented while taking out the Bangle of Blooms, “I didn’t remember putting this inside the sack. I only took five items, not six.”

“May I have it?” Lily reached for the Bangle. “I would like to try using it.”

“Are you sure?” He looked at her skeptically. “This is a new Sheng Gong-Wu and we don’t even know how it works. Besides,” he glanced down at the Bangle before focusing on Lily. “I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”

“I’ll be fine,”

…

The rest of the Xiaolin Warriors sat down as they watched Lily began her practice with the Bangle of Blooms. Just like Raimundo, they were both skeptical and worried about Lily and her chosen Sheng Gong-Wu.

“Are you sure she’s okay with this?” Kimiko whispered. “That thing is new.”

“That’s what I’ve told her,” Raimundo sighed. “You know how she is…”

“Guys,” Omi nudged them. “It’s starting.”

Lily wore the Bangle on her right wrist and put it in the air.

“Bangle of Blooms!”

The Bangle began to glow and at once, the earth began to shake as pillars of stone suddenly shot out from the ground, carrying her higher and higher until it stopped at the wave of her hand. Without warning, flames leapt up from the base of the pillar and slowly engulfing her!

“Omi, do something!” Kimiko shouted.

“Wait,” Clay pointed. “Look at her!” 

In front of their astonishing eyes, Lily was unscathed as she didn’t burn to a crisp and even her clothes were unaffected. The flames died down and she snapped her fingers. The solid stone pillars suddenly transformed into water and she fell through the water. Instead of falling headfirst towards the ground, the water was supporting her, following her every move. She clapped her hands and the water disappeared, leaving her floating in the air. She hovered about for a while before falling down again. Only this time, she was falling down for good!

“She’s about to fall down to her death!” Kimiko stood up. “We have to do something.” But before any of them could do anything, vines suddenly sprung out from the ground, catching her like a protective net. The net wrapped around her like a cocoon before slowly landing on the ground. It rolled towards the Xiaolin Warrior who were waiting with bated breaths. It split open as soon as it stopped at their feet, revealing Lily resting in a bed of fragrant flowers. The Bangle was glowing on her wrist.

“Whoa,” Omi gasped, looking at the Bangle and Lily. “She really can do that?”

“No,” Raimundo shook his head, his eyes were focusing on the Bangle. “That wasn’t her. It was the Bangle.”

“What do you mean,” Kimiko wanted to know, amazed and worried at the same time.

“Remember what Master Fung had said before? It enables the user to control nature and its elements. The gemstones each represented different elements. Look,” Raimundo pointed towards the large flower made from different-colored gemstones. “Fire is represented by ruby, water is represented by sapphire, wind is represented by diamond and earth is represented by topaz. As for wood,” he pointed towards the green leaves. “it is represented by emeralds.”

“What about the amethyst?” Clay pointed out. “What does it represent?”

“I don’t know,” Raimundo shrugged, looking at the deep purple-colored stone. “That’s the only element I couldn’t figure it out.” 

“Wha… what happened?” Lily gasped when she saw everybody was looking down upon her. “How did it go? Did I screw up again?” She looked down when she felt her hands touching something soft and smooth. “How did I end up here?” She commented while looking at the flowers.

“You didn’t remember?”

“No. Remember what?”

“Oh dear…”

…

“So, you’re saying that she has no memory of using the Bangle at all?”

Raimundo, Kimiko, Clay and Omi were in the library later that night and they informed Master Fung about Lily’s incident with the Bangle of Blooms. The four of them had decided that it was best for them to consult Master Fung in private as they did not want to offend Lily in any way.

“It’s true, Master Fung.” Omi nodded. “We saw her using all of our elements despite that hers is the element of wood. How can she possibly control elements of fire, water, wind and earth?”

“Well,” Master Fung crossed his arms. “She was using the Bangle of Blooms. As I had mentioned before, the Bangle enables the user to use and control nature and its elements. In this case, she can control and manipulate all of your elements as well.”

“But she said that she couldn’t remember using any of it.” Clay shrugged. “Quite puzzling as she seemed very capable in using it despite it was her first time doing so. How is it possible?”

“Hmmm…” Master Fung was deep in thought. Clay did have a point though; Lily did not remember using the elements but she seemed skilled in handling the Bangle.

“Maybe she was in a trance or something?” Kimiko shuddered. “I’ve heard that some Sheng Gong-Wu can control the user while he or she is using it. In the end, they will not remember anything about using them in the first place. Kinda like being possessed.”

“That is possible,” Master Fung nodded. “There are certain Sheng Gong-Wu that can possess the user. The aftermath is frightening indeed.” He looked towards Raimundo. “You seemed quiet tonight. Is there any problem that you would like to share with us?”

“Huh?” Raimundo was startled after Master Fung called him out. “Well… there was something bothering me all this while. I only took five Sheng Gong-Wu for today’s practice.”

“And?”

“They were the Eye of Dashi, Tangle Web Comb, Three-Arm Sash, Orb of Toonami and… the Mantis Flip Coin.”

“Wait,” Kimiko gasped in horror. “You didn’t take the Bangle of Blooms? Then, how did it end up in the sack?”

“That’s the problem,” Raimundo messed up his hair in confusion. “I didn’t take the Bangle of Blooms but somehow it made its way into the sack. It was the last thing I took out and by chance Lily asked for it.”

“About that,” Master Fung explained. “There were a few cases where certain Sheng Gong-Wu are attracted towards certain people and they prefer to be used by the people whom they preferred. In this case, the Bangle of Blooms was attracted towards Lily and it wants her to use it. These Sheng Gong-Wu have minds of their own but cases like this are a rarity. It is possible though.”

…

Ever since Lily’s incident with the Bangle of Blooms, Raimundo took extra precaution in selecting the Sheng Gong-Wu for their practice. Even Master Fung had requested him not to take out that particular item in order to prevent any other accidents or incidents in the future. However, regardless of his attempts, the Bangle had managed to make its way into Lily’s hands during training. Sometimes it just randomly appeared in the sack for her to take while there were a few times where it simply knocked off another Sheng Gong-Wu that was already in her hands. 

There were a few occasions where it refused to be taken out by others; Kimiko had once wanted to try using it but it did not function the way it should be and it was too hot for Omi to handle it as it was hot to the touch. But it worked perfectly fine whenever Lily was using it.

“This Bangle of Blooms is very choosy eh?” Omi complained after dropping it onto the ground; it was too hot for him to touch it. “How come it has never burned you?”

“I don’t know,” Lily shrugged, clearly confused. “I thought Sheng Gong-Wu were supposed to serve all of its users?”

“True,” Clay nodded. “But this is the first time that a Sheng Gong-Wu had only responded towards a single user. It has never happened before.”

…

“In the end, the Bangle decided to let only Lily use it during practice?” Master Fung commented after Raimundo had informed about the incident. This was very peculiar indeed as there was no such thing as a Sheng Gong-Wu only allowed a single user to use it and nobody else. Strangely enough, the Bangle would magically appear in the sack during practice despite Raimundo had tried his best for not taking it out.

“Yes, Master Fung.” Raimundo bowed. “It seemed like the Bangle has a mind of its own.” Even he himself didn’t know what else to do in situations like this. 

“Well,” Master Fung sighed. “Since we had failed trying to avoid her from using the Bangle, the only way that we can do now is to simply monitor her while using it. For this task, I would like you and you alone to look after her.”

“Me?” Raimundo gasped, startled when Master Fung commanded him to look after Lily.

“As the leader, I think that you’ll have no objections?”

“Yes, Master Fung.” Raimundo bowed as Master Fung left.

“This is my chance,” his heart leapt with joy. “Finally, I can have a reason to stay close to her.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Mirror of Terror, a mirror that enables the user to project the enemies’ fear as a weapon.” Dojo explained as the Xiaolin Warriors were flying over the cloud towards another remote location. “Rather than the user directly attacks the enemy, the user manipulates their fears and use it against them.”

“That is a scary Sheng Gong-Wu,” Lily shuddered, remembering her nightmares. “I wouldn’t want my fears to be used against me.”

“That’s why we need to get it first,” Raimundo nodded as Dojo began his descent. “Trouble will befall upon us all if the Heylin side got it first.”

…

Since this was Lily’s second time going into a Sheng Gong-Wu quest, Raimundo had insisted to accompany her just in case something bad happens. At first Lily wanted to protest but remembering that she had narrowly escaped death, she willingly obliged.

“We need to search for the Mirror.” Raimundo commented as they were exploring the underground labyrinth. “It can be anywhere.”

They kept on walking while keeping their eyes open. It was deathly quiet, only their footsteps echoing off the walls. Nobody said anything until they’ve reached a clearing. Sunlight shone down through a crack somewhere above them. Old pots dotted here and there, some of them were filled with weeds, moss and dead plants while most of them were bare. The air was dank with the smell of earth, moss and rotting vegetation all rolled into one.

“It looks like we are in an underground garden,” Raimundo bent down to inspect an empty pot. “Someone must have created this garden many years ago and left it to rot.”

“But why?” Lily inched closer towards a plot with a dead plant. “Who would leave this garden in ruins?” She touched it and it instantly revived with a bright green glow! What was one a scrawny dead plant is now healthy set with red-tipped white roses! “These are nice,” she plucked off a flower, inhaling its sweet scent. Raimundo who was witnessing everything, gasped in awe as the plant was revived with just a touch of her hand.

“Wow!” he exclaimed. “You’ve brought it back to life! Amazing!”

“No…” she stammered in embarrassment while putting down the pot. “Not really.” Before Raimundo could say anything else… “Let’s find the mirror. Maybe it’s here somewhere?"

So, they keep on searching the area.

“Oh? What’s this?” Lily gasped, her hands touching something hard, cold and smooth in the shadows. She wanted to pull it out but at the same time, she could feel that something or someone else was pulling it from another end.

“I found this first…”

Suddenly there was a blinding white glow!

…

After the glow had vanished, Lily noticed that she was holding a mirror. It was a unique mirror with intricate black dragon carvings as its frame and it was still glowing eerily. Only then she had finally realized; she WASN'T the only one who was holding the mirror.

Holding at the other end of the mirror was a young man; red-haired and pale-skinned. Thick eyeliner underlined his eerie red eyes. He wore a long black trench coat and there was a pair of yellow, swirly-patterned goggles on his head. He was about the same height as Raimundo but not as cute as him. He looked slightly older than him too.

“Oh,” he began while tightening his grip on the glowing mirror while eyeing her up and down. “I’ve never seen you around before. You must be new?”

Before Lily could respond, Raimundo yawned loudly.

“Oh… It’s you again.” He yawned. “Lily, this is Jack.”

“You mean, Jack Spicer.” He stomped his foot, annoyed at Raimundo’s response. “The EVIL Boy Genius!”

“Wait… what? You’re Jack Spicer?” Lily thought that Jack Spicer is supposed to be someone who looked, talked and behaved like an evil genius. Not some young man who is an evil-boy wannabe. At once, a young woman emerged from the shadows. She wore a long black tunic with sweeping purple batwing sleeves. Her long red hair framed her beautiful heart-shaped face which was marred with long streaks of eyeliner. Despite her youthful appearance, she has an evil, ancient aura. Lily shuddered after seeing her bare feet did not quite touch the ground.

“Have you found the Mirror, Jack?” the woman asked, her voice sounded like rustling silk.

“In my hand, Wuya!” Jack pointed towards the mirror with his free hand. Lily looked at Jack and at Wuya.

“Oh dear,” she gasped, feeling alarmed after realizing the identity of these two people in front of her. “They are Jack Spicer and Wuya. Stay calm, stay calm…” she thought to herself after seeing both of them were looking at her.

“Ah…” Wuya beamed. “Finally, someone new is in the fray. I hope that you know what you’re up against, pretty girl.”

“Err… Thank you.” Lily was speechless after being complimented by Wuya. She was from the enemy but she was still being polite. “Yes, I am new. Nice to meet you,” Lily smiled. “You are beautiful as well.”

Now it was Wuya’s turn to be surprised! Not many people were nice towards her; friends and foes alike. Only a few of them had treated her nicely with respect including Raimundo’s short time with her. Surprisingly enough, Lily was being nice and polite towards her; a Heylin – member of the enemy’s side. Initially she thought that she was fooling around but all she could feel from her was genuine sincerity.

“You are indeed a nice girl,” Wuya beamed before turning towards Jack. “I like her.”

“Err… what should I do now?” Lily looked back at Raimundo.

“Well…”

“Hey, New Girl!” Jack snapped. “I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!”

“Huh?”

“When two people are holding a Sheng Gong-Wu, the only way to settle the problem is to win a Xiaolin Showdown.” Wuya explained calmly while looking at a confused Lily. “A person will challenge the other to a Showdown while wagering their own Sheng Gong-Wu. The challenge can be anything. If you win a Showdown, you get to keep the Sheng Gong-Wu that you’re fighting for, your own Sheng Gong-Wu and your opponent’s Sheng Gong-Wu. However, if you lost the Sheng Gong-Wu, not only you will lose the Sheng Gong-Wu that you’re fighting for, you will also lose your own wagered Sheng Gong-Wu to your opponent.”

“In other words,” Raimundo added, feeling surprised that Wuya was willing to explain to Lily about a Xiaolin Showdown. “Try not to lose a Showdown.” He nodded at Wuya. “Thank you for explaining.”

“My pleasure,” Wuya smiled. “You still have your kind courtesy, Raimundo.”

“Of course.”

…

“For this Showdown… we will do a basic Sheng Gong-Wu challenge, perfect for pretty noobs like you. A classic favourite; the first one who reaches the finish line will win. My Monkey Staff against your… what was it again?” Jack scratched his head as he didn’t know the name of Lily’s Sheng Gong-Wu.

“What was what?”

“What is your wagered Sheng Gong-Wu? My dear.”

“This?” Lily pointed towards her wrist. “Bangle of Blooms.” Wuya’s face changed as soon as Lily mentioned its name. “How would this mere girl come by it? It is one of the very few Sheng Gong-Wu that allies itself with a chosen user, regardless of his/her side of alignment.” She thought to herself after inspecting it. The bejeweled flower with emerald leaves intertwined with gold vines; it was definitely the Bangle of Blooms. One of the prettiest and powerful Sheng Gong-Wu of all time!

“I guess they didn’t teach you well?” Jack sneered. “At least someone at that temple could’ve mentioned about the basics of a Xiaolin Showdown.” Ignoring Raimundo’s angry stares, he continued. “I wonder what kind of CRAP did they teach you yeah?”

“Showdown now, babble later,” Wuya seethed. “You’re wasting time!”

“Oh… very well. What a downer,” Jack shrugged before clearing his throat. “I wager My Monkey Staff against your Bangle of Blooms. The challenge is to be the first one to reach the finish line at the end of this decaying terrarium.”

“Terrarium?” Lily’s ears perked up. “I might have an extra advantage in this challenge.”

“You, pretty newbie,” Jack called out as he took out his Monkey Staff. “I won’t go easy on you… no matter how pretty you are.”

“Don’t underestimate me,” Lily said calmly, her voice tensing. “Don’t be rude. You don’t know what I can do…”

“Whatever, pretty newbie.”

“I accept your challenge!”

“Good”

…

At once, the abandoned terrarium had transformed itself into a tall tower lined with moss, vines and dead trees that shot out from their respective pots. At the top of the tower, the Mirror of Terror was hanging on a wall with a big red bow. Lily and Jack Spicer stood facing each other on opposite platforms beside the tower’s walls.

“This is it, Lily.” Raimundo patted her shoulder. Lily noticed that he was in a different outfit; his Showdown costume. “Your first ever Xiaolin Showdown.”

“I’m scared,” Lily commented, her voice shaking slightly in fear. “What if I lose this Showdown? Surely, we couldn’t afford to lose this Showdown and,” she flicked her wrist. “This Bangle of Blooms.”

“Just do what you can,” he gripped her shoulder, trying to motivate her. “Just do your best. Remember, he doesn’t know what you can do and he also doesn’t know that you have an advantage over him.” He winked at her. Deep down in his heart, he was definitely worried for her as he did not expect her to compete in her first ever Xiaolin Showdown this quick. 

“Oh yeah,” Lily looked at their surroundings. “Of course.”

“Good luck!”

…

“The first one to reach the Mirror at the top of the tower will win the Showdown. The winner will also keep their opponent’s wagered Sheng Gong-Wu.” Jack Spicer repeated the proposed challenge. He pointed towards Lily. “I ain’t gonna hold back, Pretty Newbie. Be prepared!”

“Very well,” Lily narrowed her eyes, feeling slightly annoyed that Jack kept on calling her “Pretty Newbie.” Whether he likes to compliment her or just simply to bug her, she will never know.

“Gong Yi Ten Pai!!!”

“What???”

“That means GO!” Raimundo shouted when Jack Spicer had already bounced off from his platform but Lily just stood there, confused. “Go Lily! GO!!!”

“Err… Okay!!!” Lily quickly kicked off the platform and somersaulting off the branches and vines, trying to catch up with Jack Spicer. He was already far ahead and with the Monkey Staff, he had no difficulties in scaling up the dead branches that grew out from the tower’s walls. However, Lily was struggling as she jumped off the branches as high as she can. Some of the branches even cut her tunic and scratched her face. Nevertheless, she kept on going.

“What’s the matter, New Girl?” Jack popped down beside her, hanging upside-down from his tail. “Already giving up?” He taunted gleefully while watching her tugging off a twig from her hair.

“Since when you’ve turned into a monkey?” Lily gasped, trying to focus on the task at hand.

“Anyone who uses the Monkey Staff are granted with monkey-like abilities… ooh ohh ahh ahh” Jack replied while scratching his head.

“Err… yeah…” Lily seethed, feeling clearly annoyed with Jack’s antics. “Including turning you into a monkey. How…” she added sarcastically. “adorable…”

“Oh really,” Jack laughed, brushing off her sarcasm. “Let’s see if this is adorable enough for you…”

He swung closer to her and suddenly…

WHAM!!!

Lily was falling down swiftly after a single kick from Jack Spicer.

“Goodbye, Pretty Newbie. HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

…

“What should I do?”

Lily thought as she was crashing down. “Something must be done! I couldn’t lose this Showdown! Everyone is depending on me! What should I do?”

“Just do your best. Remember, he doesn’t know what you can do and he also doesn’t know that you have an advantage over him…” Raimundo’s voice echoed through her mind and the Bangle on her wrist began to glow.

“An advantage... That’s it!” She looked at the Bangle.

“Bangle of Blooms!”

…

“That pretty newbie is a piece of cake,” Jack Spicer thought to himself while leaping off the branches. “I never realized that she could be so easily taken care of. Too bad.” He kept on leaping off the branches here and there. “I guess I’ll be winning this Showdown once and for all. HAHAHA!!!... Eh?” He gasped in surprise as the branch that he was holding suddenly had RETRACTED itself into the wall. He tried another branch and the same thing happened!

“What the hell?” he cursed as whenever he reached out towards a branch, they seemed to “ran” away from him. “Whatever,” he spat. “I’ll use the vines then.” Before he could even grab any, the vines began to slither, wrapping themselves around him.

“What the? Hey!” He shouted as the vines were wrapping themselves tighter and tighter around him. “What’s up with these vines? What the-?” A bright green glow suddenly flashed in front of him, blinding his eyes. When the glow died down, Lily was standing in front of him but what had caught his attention was the branches that she was standing on AND her green, glowing hands.

“I’ve told you not to underestimate me…” she sneered.

“You…” his voice trailed off. “You did this?”

“Who else?”

“Let me go…” he winced as the vines were binding him tightly. “ARGH!!!”

“Sorry,” Lily smiled sweetly. “Gotta get that mirror first. Bye!”

Jack Spicer could only watch helplessly while being bound by the vines as Lily rose up to the top with the branches and vines helping her to get to the mirror. As soon as her fingers touched the mirror, a bright white light burst out from it, blinding everyone in its path.

…

“The challenge has been completed,” Wuya declared as Lily was holding three Sheng Gong-Wu; Mirror of Terror, Bangle of Blooms and Monkey Staff. “As promised, the winner gets the mirror, the opponent’s wagered Sheng Gong-Wu and retained their own.”

“THAT'S NOT FAIR!” Jack protested, stomping his foot in anger. “She didn’t even use her Sheng Gong-Wu. She cheated! I WANT A REMATCH!”

“No,” Wuya calmly declined. “She did use her Sheng Gong-Wu. That bangle enables the her to control and enhance any elements she wishes. In this case, she controls the element of wood.”

“But…”

“NO BUTS!!! It has been settled!” Wuya snapped, her eyes were glinting dangerously. “Next time, you should learn not to underestimate your opponent. Come, we’re leaving.”

“I’ll remember this, Pretty Newbie!” Jack Spicer left in a huff.

“You are indeed special, pretty girl.” Wuya whispered as she floated past Lily. “We’ll meet again someday.” She was holding one of the red-tipped white roses in her hand.

“Special?” Lily wondered as those two disappeared. “How did she know?”

…

“Congratulations, Lily!”

“You won your first Showdown? That’s great!”

“Finally, Jack Spicer learns to respect his opponent!”

“Don’t mess with our Lily!”

“Thanks everyone!” Lily beamed with embarrassment as the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors congratulated her on her first win.

“With Lily by our side, we are definitely invincible! Watch out, Heylin!”


	11. Chapter 11

“Spicer, don’t you have any shame getting beaten by the Xiaolin Warriors all the time?” Chase Young scolded Jack Spicer when he came to whine about his loss with the Xiaolin Warriors. He always barged into his lair despite being chased off countless times by his Jungle Cats. At one time, he almost got his left leg bitten off! But that didn’t stop him from dropping by countless of times. “It looks like your so-called technology has no use at all!”

“It’s not my invention’s fault,” Jack defended. “That new girl has cool moves, way cooler than the other warriors.”

Chase’s ears perked up with interest. “What new girl?” he asked. “What cool moves?”

“They have a new girl with them.” Jack explained. “She was a newcomer and her Sheng Gong-Wu was pretty cool but it was her moves that got me.”

“Like I’ve said earlier,” Chase crossed his arms, listening with interest. “What kind of cool moves that you’ve spoken of?”

“She has this ability of controlling plants and plant-based elements; roots, leaves, vines, twigs… even DEAD plants!” Jack exclaimed, dramatically waving his arms into the air.

“Did she hit your head too hard?” asked Chase, smirking. “I think you are crazier than I ever think you are now.”

“I’m not crazy,” Jack argued. “She did control plants and trees. She even used them in my recent Showdown with her. I was thrashed very badly!”

“Don’t you always?” Chase added sarcastically. “What else is new?”

“I AM NOT CRAZY!!!” Jack snapped angrily. “She DID control plants and trees. See her for yourself!” He thrusted a tablet into Chase’s arms. “I had managed to catch her picture during the showdown.”

“What is…” before Chase could finish, an image of a girl in a red Xiaolin tunic was controlling vines during a Showdown. That girl had her brown hair tied up in a bun and she had put a red flower in it.

That girl… she did resemble her. Their resemblance was quite uncanny.   
Could it be? But he had to make sure about it first.

“See, I’ve told you!” Jack snatched back the tablet from Chase’s arms. “That girl is definitely a threat to the Heylin side… HEY! Where are you going?”

“There’s something that I need to do,” Chase walked briskly towards the entrance. “I’ll have my Jungle Cats show you the way out and Spicer,” he paused briefly at the door.

“What?”

“Your so-called technology wasn’t useless at all!” With those words being said, he immediately jumped off, leaving Jack clueless.

“Wait,” Jack said when Chase disappeared. “Did Chase Young just give me a compliment? HELL YEAH!”

…

As he was making his way towards her final resting place from a thousand of years ago, her image from Jack’s tablet kept on replaying in his mind. Everything about her had remained the same. After years of endless waiting, he had now finally able to reunite with his long-lost love. However, he was worried. 

What if that girl wasn’t the girl that he wanted her to be?

A thousand of years he had waited for her return. Oh, the pain! How he had suffered just to wait for her resurrection. To be an immortal is a blessing and also a curse but to be alone for all eternity, that was the heaviest curse of all. He still remembered his final moments with her; those final worst moments in his life…

Flashback mode... One THOUSAND years ago...

Chase Young was walking back to his cottage after his training. It has been five days since he had last seen her. When he was told to go away for his training, he was hesitant because he was worried to leave her alone at home. His last conversation with her was replaying again in his head...

“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?” he said as he was packing his stuff for his training. “Five days would be a long time you know?”

“I’ll be fine, dear. Don’t worry, okay?” she assured him while setting the table for dinner. “I tell you what, let me cook your favourite food when you come back.” She added with a wink.

“I’ll make sure that I arrive quickly at home to eat your cooking, love.” He smiled at her. “Your cooking is the best.” She smiled at him her winning smile. That smile can melt his heart at any day. She was his light, his joy, his life...

He snapped back to the present when he reached his cottage. However, he sensed that something was wrong… really wrong…

His cottage was too quiet for his liking and there wasn’t any smoke coming out from the chimney. There was no way that she wasn’t home because she knew that he was coming home today. If she was taking a bath or sleeping, she would leave the fireplace on. Without any hesitation, he bolted towards the door. To his horror, the door wasn’t locked at all! Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door and went inside.

His cottage was turned upside down: broken plates and bowls scattered across the floor, torn clothes and papers, spilt food and water on the table and smashed-up furniture. Gnarly vines and tree roots snaked on the floor and spilling down from the windows. He called out her name…

But there was only silence…

He stepped forward and his foot felt sticky. When he looked down, his face immediately drained out of colour.

Blood… huge puddles of them…

His heart was beating uncontrollably. Something bad had definitely befallen upon her! He tried calling out for her again but there was deathly silence. He looked for her in the kitchen and the bathroom but she was neither in both messed-up places. He quickly made his way towards their bedroom, praying hard that she will be alright. But as soon as he was in the doorway, he fell down to his knees in deep, dark despair.

She was indeed in their bedroom but the very sight of her made him broken with remorse.

"No…"

She was wearing her favourite pink tunic that he liked but it was badly bloodstained and torn in various places. The front of the tunic was ripped off and she was naked from the waist down.

"This can’t be happening…"

Her long brown hair was matted with blood and spilling out like crazy. Definitely not from her usually neat bun hairstyle.

"This isn’t real…"

She was slashed and stabbed repeatedly in various places especially in her chest and stomach. A vase shard was poking out from her left chest and even her throat was cut open. Blood was gushing out from all of these wounds and there was fresh blood on her bare inner thighs.

“NO!”

He dragged his legs that were petrified from the gruesome sight towards her. He fell down to his knees and took her lifeless body in his arms. His own tunic was turning red from her blood but he didn’t care at all. He took a deep breath as he slowly grasping his fingers on the broken shard. With a single hard pull, the shard was yanked out from her chest. Her body jerked in shock when the shard came off. Blood immediately spurted out from the gaping wound. His hand bleed from the shard but he was numb to the pain. 

He tried waking her up but he knew that she won’t be opening her eyes again for a long time. Her lips were no longer curling into his favourite smile, they were slowly turning pale and settling into a grim, thin line. He cupped her face close to his and through his bloodied fingers, he could feel that her warmth was fading away slowly. He grabbed her right hand and noticed that she was clutching her favourite hairpin; a red lily hairpin that he had bought her as her wedding gift. He gently pried open her stiffened fingers and held the hairpin close to his heart. 

All this while, his tears were already raining down from his face and seeing her holding on to the hairpin until her final moments made him weep uncontrollably.

“For you, my love,” he solemnly promised. “I will avenge your death!”

…

“I’m sorry for your loss…”

A voice suddenly came out of nowhere made Chase jump. He was holding her for quite some time now that he didn’t realize that time had already passed. She was already cold with death as the warmth from her body had already disappeared. He spun around and noticed an elderly man clad in a long black cloak was standing in the doorway.

“Who are you?” Chase asked him, his tense voice cracked with his dark sorrow.

“Han, just a mere wanderer,” the elderly man introduced himself. “I’m sorry for trespassing your home… during bad times like this…”

“I don’t have a place to call home anymore,” Chase interrupted slowly, his voice weakening. “This home died along with her.” He clutched her lifeless body tightly and broke down into hysterics. “Who would do such a thing? She would never disturb anyone!” He wailed. “Why would she be tortured like this?”

“Young man, perhaps I can show you what really happened…” Han said softly.

“What do you mean?” Chase looked at him suspiciously.

“Well…” Han explained. “Actually, I have the ability to show you things that already happened in a place.”

“We can travel in time to save her?” Chase cried; his eyes glimmered with hope.

“No…” Han quickly answered while shaking his head sadly. “I couldn’t do that but I can show you what really happened to her. At least,” he added when he saw Chase became lost again. “We can see who did this to her.”

Chase was deep in thought after listening to Han’s explanation.

“Besides,” Han said while crossing his frail arms across his chest. “I believe that you would like to avenge her death. Wouldn’t you?”

Chase looked at her pale face again, deep in thought. Deep down in his heart, he agreed with everything that Han had said. He couldn’t just simply let her death unavenged like that. He would live to regret if he ever let it slide.

“Show me what really happened here. Please!”

“As you wish.” Han waved his right hand, chanting magical words as he did so.

…

Chase and Han were standing in the bedroom. At that time, everything was still clean and neat. Even she was gone.

“This moment is where before the horrible incident happened.” Han explained when he saw Chase was looking around the room. Suddenly, a melodious singing voice was heard from outside the bedroom. “I believe that your wife is still in the kitchen.”

They made their way into the kitchen and Han was correct. She was indeed in the kitchen, preparing Chase’s favorite food for his return on that day. She was singing happily like she always did. She was looking exceptionally pretty today in her pink tunic. She even put her favourite hairpin in her hair.

“Your wife is a beautiful woman,” Han praised. “You are one lucky young man.”

“I can’t wait to see Chase again!” Chase’s heart ached when he heard her said that as she was setting down the plates on the table. “It’s been five days since I last seen him.” She smiled dreamily. “I really missed him!”

Chase wanted to pull her into an embrace but Han stopped him.

“It’s no use,” Han said slowly as they were watching her putting a vase of red lilies on the table. “We’re not time-travelling, remember? This is only a replay on what’s already happened. Besides, she can’t see, hear or touch us.”

A loud knock on the door interrupted them.

“Ohh,” she looked up, smiling. “That must be Chase!”

“Let’s follow her,” Han dragged Chase.

They were standing behind her when she opened the door.

“Oh hi! Welcome home honey… wait?” her cheery voice suddenly faded away into seriousness. “You’re not Chase!” she gasped.

“Oh? Chase isn’t at home, is he?”

“Wait!” Chase gasped as he was staring at the door. “I know those three!”

...Still in Flashback Mode...

Last Year…

“Congratulations on your wedding!”

“My, what a beautiful bride!”

“How lucky you are!”

Chase Young beamed with pride and happiness when all of the guests were gushing over his newly-wedded wife. It was their wedding day and they had invited everyone in the village since he was quite well-known for his good looks, his skills and his kind heart. Even Chase’s friends and colleagues from the Xiaolin temple were also in attendance; Junior Xiaolin Apprentice Fung, Grand Master Dashi and Junior Monk Guan.

“Wah!” Kwang slapped Chase on his shoulder. “Who would’ve known that the usually quiet Chase Young is the first one getting married?”

“Yeah,” Song chided. “Your bride is lovely indeed! I wonder where you found her?” Chase flashed a wide smile meanwhile his wife hid behind him as she was blushing with embarrassment. She wasn’t really used to compliments so she tends to overreact whenever someone complimented her. 

“I wish I could marry someone as lovely as your beloved Mrs. Young,” said Hong, half-jokingly and half-jealously. “I want a wife just like her. If only I wasn’t too slow…” his voice, tinged with a bit of green envy, was trailing off slowly.

Chase just laughed merrily while clutching his wife’s hand. “No worries, your turns will definitely come soon. Besides, there will be someone for all of you somewhere out there. We’ll pray that each of you will meet your match.” Hong, Song and Kwang laughed along although Hong’s laughter sounded a bit fake with a subtle hint of bitter jealousy.

...End of Chase’s Flashback from last year...

“Those three…” Chase’s voice trailed off in disbelief with his eyes fixed at the three men at the doorway.

“Do you know those men?” Han asked slowly, never breaking his gaze on Chase.

“Of course,” Chase croaked, his voice breaking. “They’re Hong, Song and Kwang! They’re my friends from the village!

…

Chase watched with dread when Hong stepped forward. As for Song and Kwang, they were eyeing their surroundings suspiciously. 

“Greetings, Mrs. Young.” Hong greeted with a scary smile. “Is Chase home?”

“If you’re looking for Chase,” Mrs. Young said firmly while barring them from entering. Chase could feel that she was uncomfortable with their presence. “He’s not home right now.”

“That’s too bad,” said Hong, his eyes glinting with dark intentions. 

“It’s best that you should leave,” Mrs. Young slowly backed away from the doorway. However, before she could reach the doorknob, Kwang suddenly grabbed her hand. “Why, Mrs. Young…” He purred with content when he saw Mrs. Young’s terrified face. “What’s the matter? Surely you’re not afraid of us… aren’t you?”

“Let me go!” Mrs. Young struggled. “I said… LET GO!”

PANG!!!

In the middle of the struggle, Mrs. Young had struck Kwang across his face! In a split second, his grasp was loosened and she managed to break free. However, her freedom was short lived.

“YOU BITCH!” Kwang cursed while lunging himself towards Mrs. Young. “HOW DARE YOU HIT ME ACROSS THE FACE? I’LL MAKE SURE YOU’LL REGRET IT FOR LIFE!” Chase’s blood was boiling with white hot anger when Kwang cursed at his wife like that.

She dodged him and dashed towards the kitchen. Her pursuers were hot on her trail and they overturned everything that were in their path; food, books, furniture and ornaments.

“There’s nowhere to run…” Song taunted with a lewd smile as he picked up the vase with lilies in it. Somehow, he really enjoyed this little game of prey. No matter how hard she ran, she could never escape from them. Besides, they got her outnumbered. She always dodged them but every time she did that, a piece of her tunic was torn off, revealing her porcelain skin underneath. Seeing her exposed skin made their blood burning hot with unholy desire.

“I got you now,” Hong wrapped his arms around her with a steel-like grip. His lips were grazing her slender neck with satisfaction. “After all this time, I can finally have you.” He sensuously nipped her neck. Seeing her winced in fear really amused him. “Oh, what’s this?” he narrowed his eyes onto her hairpin. “Ah… it’s your wedding gift” He traced its intricate detailing with his finger. “Chase is so old-fashioned!” he spat. “Such ghastly taste.” With a swift tug, he removed the hairpin and carelessly tossed it onto the floor. At once, everything in the house was deathly quiet…

“HOW DARE YOU!!!!”

…

Without warning, various vines and roots appeared around them. They sprung out from the ground and they snaked down from the windows, making their way towards Hong and Mrs. Young. In spite of fear, Hong accidentally let go of Mrs. Young. Instead of falling down into a heap, she floated in the air, her long hair was billowing madly and her eyes were glowing an eerie green. Even her hands were glowing the same mysterious shade too!

“My…” Han commented as the drama was unfolding in front of him. “Your wife sure is gifted. Remarkable!” Chase looked on, saying nothing.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?” Hong screamed when some of the vines were binding themselves around his body. They were getting tighter and tighter!

“You should know best not to mess with me…” Mrs. Young hissed, looking amused when she saw Hong being tortured by her vines. With a flick of her wrist, a vine picked up her fallen hairpin and placed into her opened palm. “Nobody messes with MY wedding gift!”

“So, the rumors were true…” Hong looked at her directly in the eyes. “About your powers… your origins…”

“And now you know its true terror…”

“No…” Kwang interrupted darkly as he was leaping towards her. “It is YOU who’ll know true terrors of MAN!”

“WHAT ARE YOU…!” Mrs. Young couldn’t finish when Kwang swiftly tackled her to the ground. “SONG! NOW!”

“Goodnight, Witch!” Song said smugly as he swung the vase hard onto the back of her head. A loud crack was heard and the vase shattered into pieces. Crimson lilies were strewn everywhere.

…

All the vines and roots had stopped moving when Mrs. Young was knocked out. Even the vines that were binding Hong were untangling themselves off him.

“I never knew that it was that easy to knock her out,” Kwang commented as he hoisted himself off Mrs. Young. She was unconscious and the back of her head was soaking wet with blood. “I thought people like her require special charms or spells… not some random vase.”

“Well…” Song crossed his arms. “Despite her extraordinary abilities, she was still human to begin with. Besides,” he crouched down and picked up a vase shard from the floor. With a lewd smile, he dragged the shard over her clothes, tearing the fabric apart but at the same time he took care not to damage her lovely skin. “It’s easy to do business with her while she’s out cold.”

“You can’t be serious…” Hong commented, backing away from her but still fixing his eyes on Mrs. Young, whose clothes was torn to shreds. “How can you possibly think of such things?”

“Don’t be a hypocrite, Hong!” Song seethed while pulling away her torn pants. “We know you wanted her so badly. You’ve already grazed her neck so,” he ran his hand along her smooth, fair thighs. “Why not devour her as a whole?”

“Yeah,” Kwang nodded. “This is your chance. Besides,” he added naughtily. “You can have the first turn. Song and I can wait.”

“Or we all can do it together at the same time”, Song suggested as he tore off the front of Mrs. Young’s already torn-up tunic, revealing her chest. “You better decide now before she wakes up… or her husband returns… we’ll be dead if we’re caught!”

“This… couldn’t… be… happening…” Chase’s voice was breaking with horror and disbelief as he watched the three men taking their turns raping his wife. There wasn’t any trace of humanity in them as they were carrying out their dirty deeds with such animosity! When one of the men were raping her, the other two were pinning down her arms.

“Stop!” His wife cried out weakly when Hong was violating her. “Please, let me go! ARGH!” Hong didn’t slow down but he went on raping her up without mercy. Kwang and Song watched them with keen interest while holding her arms. Somehow her cries didn’t affect them at all. She wanted to push him off her but her arms were being pinned down. She could only cry out in pain while clutching on to her hairpin. Besides, she was too weak to use her powers.

Chase wanted to drag Hong off her but he knew that it was impossible. Out of the three, Hong was the most brutal with his wife. She was screaming in pain because she was bleeding out whenever he went into her, staining her inner thighs. He was so vicious that his wife had passed out again from the pain and shame.

“If I can’t have you…” Hong spat after he was done with her, grabbing the vase shard beside him. “Nobody can have you!” he slashed her throat in a single strike. “Not even your USELESS husband!” he slashed her again and again, striking her arms and legs. Crimson blood tainted the walls and the floor. Even his face was splattered with blood.

“This,” Hong hissed after he plunged the shard into her left chest “Is for all the pain you had caused me all this time!” 

“That wasn’t part of the plan,” Kwang shuddered after Hong backed away from Mrs. Young. “Nothing in the plans stated that we have to kill her. NONE!”

“Then,” Song said. “Would you rather have her wake up and blabbing out our secret to the whole village? We’ll get ourselves killed if we ever let that happen!”

“Song’s right,” Hong nodded. “She must be silenced. Besides,” he flashed an evil smile after wiping off the blood from his face. “I feel so satisfied after devouring her like that. Even killing her was truly satisfying!”

“We better clean ourselves up and leave immediately.” Song stood up. “We wouldn’t want to be caught by Chase, right?”

…

“So that’s what really happened,” Han commented after the incident’s replay had ended. “Those three are indeed BARBARIANS! How could they do such things to your wife?” He turned to look at Chase but he was already on his knees, shaking with white-hot anger and pitch-black sorrow.

“Those monsters…” he cursed. “UNFORGIVABLE!” The air began to tense up with all of his anger. Even the surroundings were deathly quiet.

“Young man,” Han put a hand on his shoulder. “So, what do you want to do now? You’ve seen how they treated your beloved wife. Such ANIMALS! Such MONSTROSITY!"

“I want them dead…” Chase hissed. “All of them…”

“Very well,” Han smiled while fishing out a black bottle from his pocket. The bottle has intricate gold dragon carvings on it. It looked exquisite but also sinister at the same time. “I have something that can help you to achieve your goal.” He held up the bottle in front of Chase. “This is Lao Mang Long. It can give you tremendous power and increase all of your other abilities. Very suitable for destroying those who killed your beloved wife.”

Chase took the bottle from him and inspected it carefully. He felt an unknown aura emanating from it. It felt like it wanted him to drink it.

“By drinking this,” Han continued while pointing towards the bottle. “You can have all the powers you need to carry out your revenge. They are all permanent.”

Chase unscrewed the bottle lid and looked at his dead wife. He raised the bottle close to his mouth.

“For you, my love. For you.”

…

It was HORRIBLE! 

It tasted like bitter herbs, rotten garlic and blood all mixed together in one sip. However, he managed to finish all of it to the last drop!

As soon as he finished the Lao Mang Long, he felt his body was burning up rapidly as if he was currently being burned alive! His heart felt like a giant claw was crushing it. His vision was fading into black. The pain was so great that he fell down to the floor beside his wife, screaming in agony! At the same moment, Han stood behind him, smiling triumphantly.

“What…” Chase wheezed. “What… did… you… give… me???” He was still curling on the floor; the pain was crushing him. Something dark and sinister was slowly taking over his body from inside. “ARGH!!!”

“Patience, young man,” Han said calmly. “It does hurt for a while but you’ll be fine. It’s normal.”

Meanwhile, Chase began to undergo a physical transformation. His hair was undone and became long and spiky with a greenish tinge. His blood-soaked clothes slowly transforming into a suit of dark armor. The armor even covered his feet and his hands that had grown sharp black fingernails. He was trashing about madly throughout the transformation but he slowly stopped moving when his transformation was complete.

“So…” Han said calmly. “How are you feeling now, young man?”

Chase flashed an evil smile and finally opened his eyes. They were cold and lizard-like.

“Better than ever.”

…

“Do you think Chase Young will know that it’s us?” Kwang whispered to Song and Hong. Right now, they were in an empty house at the edge of the village. They did not dare return to their own houses just in case someone else came looking for them.

“Nonsense!” Hong snapped. “We already silenced his wife and we already made sure that she stayed that way. How could he possibly know that we did it?”

“Yeah,” Song chided. “Besides, there aren’t any witnesses. So, we don’t have to worry about it.”

Before Hong could say anything else, a loud explosion was heard from outside!

“What the hell is that?”

Loud screams pierced through the air.

“Let’s go check it out.”

Another explosion was heard.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

More screaming pierced the air.

“Don’t know, but we better check it out.”

The three of them stood up and walked towards the door. Song slowly twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

“WHAT THE HELL???”

…

It’s like HELL on Earth!

Houses were burning in fiery red flames. Bodies; twisted, dismembered and bloody, were scattered on the ground. Horrifying screams and wails cut through the air that was reeking with metallic blood and burnt flesh.

“What in the world?” Kwang shuddered as he was stepping over a severed limb on the ground. “Who would do such a thing?” Song and Hong trailed quietly behind him. They couldn’t say anything but could only stare at the mass destruction in front of them. Someone or something had gone on a rampage, destroying everything in its path.

“LOOK!” Song pointed towards one direction. Both Hong and Kwang turned around and all of their gazes fell upon a huge fire. A mysterious tall and dark figure was standing in front of the fire with his/her back facing the three of them. The figure was seen holding a corpse at its neck. As soon as the three of them approached the figure, the figure carelessly tossed the corpse aside.

“I was looking for the three of you,” the figure said coldly. “Thank you for coming directly to me. Saved me a lot of my precious time.”

The figure turned around and all three of them were in absolute shock.

“CHASE?”

…

“What happened to you?” Kwang asked, eyeing Chase’s new look; long greenish spiky hair, a dark suit of armor and his yellow, reptilian eyes.

“Well…” Chase flicked his hands to clear off the remaining blood. “Let’s just say I had a total makeover. Something that I have you to thank for…”

“Us?” Song stammered. “Why us?”

“Don’t play fool with me,” Chase seethed, his voice cold as ice. “I know what the three of you have done!” Lightning struck near Song, narrowly burning him.

“YOU RAPED HER!” Chase yelled in pure anger. “YOU KILLED HER! OF ALL PEOPLE, WHY HER?”

Song, Kwang and Hong tried to back away from Chase but whenever they try to escape, lightning struck again, blocking all of their chances for escaping.

“ALL OF YOU ARE WORSE THAN ANIMALS! MONSTERS! MURDERERS!”

Lightning flashed again, scorching the ground here and there. In a blink of an eye, Chase had Song by the neck. 

“Arghhh… grhhhh… gahh…” Song choked when Chase’s left hand were slowly crushing his throat. His right hand was clenching his head.

“Since you’ve hit her with that vase and tore off her clothes,” Chase hissed calmly while tightening his hold. “I shall now return you the favor.” With a single strong grip, his head was torn off his body; killing him instantly! Blood began to spray everywhere from the wound, dripping onto the ground and some of them even splashed onto Chase’s face.

“SONG!!!” Both Kwang and Hong cried in horror as Song’s head was torn off.

“Now, now…” Chase purred while tossing Song’s decapitated head into a nearby fire. “I still haven’t forgotten about both of you. We’re just getting started…”

“YOU’RE A MONSTER!” Kwang shrieked as he was running away. Unfortunately for him, Chase appeared before him and grabbed his face.

“Umm… you’re the real monster.” Chase said calmly while crushing his head; killing him immediately. “RUDE monsters like you shouldn’t be calling other people monsters.”

“Now…” Chase smiled as he was shaking his fingers to clear off the blood. “That’s two down… Hmmm…” He looked around and noticed that Hong had disappeared.

“Playing hide and seek, are we?” He pointed his right hand towards a house in front of him. “Too bad that I’m not in the mood for games.” With a single gesture of his hand, Hong was flung out from the house and crash-landed in front of Chase. Before he could stand up, Chase magically levitated him. He tried to break free but an invisible force was holding him in its grip.

“Do you think,” Chase spat. “that you can simply outrun me and escape?"

“Puh… please…” Hong begged between choked-up breaths. “Le… let… me… go…”

PANG!

“Do you really think that I’m gonna let you off that easily…” Chase seethed darkly, his eyes narrowing into cold slits. “After everything that you had done to her… there’s no way that I’m gonna have mercy on you… even in death.”

With one wave of his right hand, gnarly tree roots suddenly shot up from the ground and they wound themselves around Hong’s wrists and ankles; leaving him dangling above the ground. Chase stood in front of him, picking up a stick from the ground and ran his hand along its surface. As he was doing so, the stick was slowly transforming into a dagger; its handle was dark and curvy with a deadly sharp blade. He took the dagger and stabbed Hong’s left shoulder. Hong screamed in pain as the dagger was dragged all the way from his left shoulder until his left middle finger. Blood was spraying everywhere but Chase kept on going. He repeated the same thing with Hong’s right shoulder and both of his legs. By the time he was finished, Hong was drenched in his own blood from his limbs that had been cut open. However, his abdomen was left untouched.

“Now…” Chase smiled gleefully while tossing the dagger aside. “Here’s the fun part.” He plunged his hand into Hong’s already cut-open left arm and ripped out his bones before throwing them aside. Hong’s screams had no effect on him as he continued to enjoy ripping out the bones. 

“Painful, isn’t it?” He taunted while flicking off the remaining blood from his hands. “I wonder how she would feel when you raped her at that time… My… not only you’ve raped her… you even took away her life… you poor pathetic thing. You’ve shown her hell… and you shall suffer the same fate too.”

He snapped his fingers and a tree root suddenly shot up from the ground underneath Hong, impaling him all the way from his anus right through his abdomen. As if that wasn’t enough torture, he plunged his fist into Hong’s chest and wrenched out his heart. It was still beating when he crushed it with dark satisfaction. Hong’s body gave a sudden jerk when his heart was ripped out and slumped forward afterwards. As if seeing Hong’s dead body wasn’t enough, Chase set it ablaze with just a snap of his fingers. Seeing the corpse burning into ashes really did give him the ultimate satisfaction.

“May all of you rot in Hell…”

“You’ve done well, young man.” Han stepped out from the shadows, admiring Chase’s work of destruction. “You’ve carried your revenge with such perfection that even I envied you.”

“They deserved it.” Chase smirked. “Those bastards got what they had done to her.”

“True that,” Han nodded while getting ready to leave. “Come now, we must bury your wife first. We shouldn’t let her wait any longer.”

“Speaking of my wife…” Chase interjected. “Is there any way for her to revive again?”

“There is a way.” Han answered slowly after a long moment of silence. “But we need to return to your wife first.”

…

When they arrived at the cottage, Han immediately set up his things for his Revival Enchantment. As for Chase, he moved his wife’s body onto their bed as instructed by Han. He had cleaned all of her wounds before changing her tattered and bloodied clothes into clean ones; a plain, long-sleeved white dress. During the change, he bit his lip seeing all of those wounds inflicted on her.

He looked at Han who was inspecting all sorts of peculiar ingredients. There was a dilapidated-looking spell book among the things.

“Now,” Han said after finishing lighting up black candles circling the bed. “Let us begin.”

Lighting whizzed and thunder boomed when Han began practicing his dark arts. The wind howled as he recited the Revival Enchantment. It sounded guttural and foreign. But strangely enough, the candles didn’t blow out despite the strong wind. Chase watched in silence as Han threw different colored powders at his wife. They didn’t stain her at all. While Han was engrossed in his act, Chase silently picked up the spell book and randomly flipping its pages until he stopped at a certain page. He smiled when that particular page was the one that he was looking for.

“There… all done…” Han clapped his hands after he was finished. However, his face went pale when he saw Chase was holding his spell book.

“May I have my book back?” He asked, his voice trembling slightly.

“Sorry, Han.” Chase shook his head while still holding the book. “I think I shall keep this for myself.”

“What are you…?”

“Well, you see…” Chase began, not breaking eye contact with Han. “Ever since the beginning, I’ve already suspected you. Sure, you’ve helped me and all but that’s too easy. I knew that something’s definitely up.”

“You’re absolutely right, Chase…” Han turned around and revealed his true identity.

“You…”

…

Standing in front of Chase was Hannibal Roy Bean, the Xiaolin Warriors’ sworn enemy. They’ve been clashing together for quite some time now.

“You’ve never failed to impress me, Chase Young.” Hannibal complimented while looking at Chase up and down with his ungodly yellow eyes. “My decision was never wrong; you definitely have a bright future in your current state.”

“Indeed…” Chase puts his right hand forward. “And I’ll prove it to you that your decision is a wise one…” He began to cast a dark spell, waving his right hand as he did so. A magical pattern suddenly emerged from underneath Hannibal. At first, he was relaxed but his face was contorted with fear when he couldn’t move away from the pattern.

“What is the meaning of this?” Hannibal shouted when dark auras from the pattern were engulfing him.

“Well,” Chase smirked. “Only ONE evil is enough for this world. There’s no need for OTHER evils.”

“Ah…” Hannibal smiled in agreement. “True enough. Even I would do the same as you do. But…” His eyes glinted evilly as he was fading away. “Remember this Chase,” he cursed while looking at Chase’s wife. “She will NEVER remember you. Who knows WHEN she’ll return but that’s not a problem for you, an IMMORTAL! Forgotten by a loved one after an endless wait, that’s who you’ll be… ha ha ha!!!”

“I’ll MAKE HER REMEMBER!!!” Chase screamed, his hair standing up. “I won’t LOSE to you, BASTARD!!!”

“We’ll see about that… as for now, she’s just another CORPSE waiting for burial.”

With those final words, Hannibal Roy Bean disappeared.

…

End of Chase's flashback from 1000 years ago...

Chase had finally snapped to the present when he finally reached her resting place under the foot under the blooming cherry blossom tree. This particular place did not really change much despite its surroundings were transformed into a park. However, the cherry blossom tree was left untouched. Not a single tree branch was cut off!

He placed his right palm on the tree trunk. “If she was indeed revived again,” he summoned. “Give me a sign!”

The wind began to blow hard and the cherry blossoms were rustling. Flower petals began to rain down on him, some of them even stuck into his hair but he didn’t care at all.

“Give me a sign if she’s alive AGAIN!” he shouted.

At once, something red hit him in the face. It fluttered down in the mud between his feet. He knelt down and picked it up. It was a palm-sized cherry blossom… in an unusual blood-red colour. Before he could say anything else, the peculiar blossom transformed into a crimson lily; her favourite flower. His lips curled into a smile.

“At last..."


	12. Chapter 12

Chase was pacing up and down his lair. Ever since he returned from her grave, he couldn’t resist himself from thinking about the girl in Jack’s tablet. That girl was indeed similar with HER... their resemblance was quite uncanny. 

Was it POSSIBLE that she had finally returned? 

But the results will NEVER lie. He already asked for the signs and all of them showed the same thing; she had INDEED returned. However, he must confirm about it first. 

He did have one problem though… How can he possibly be getting up close with her WITHOUT the rest of Xiaolin Warriors noticing him? 

“Not again, Spicer.” He sighed as a loud thud was heard from the doorway. “I don’t have time for your foolish babble…” his voice trailed off when an idea suddenly popped into his mind.

“On second thought,” he smirked. “Please do come in, Spicer.”

…

“This is where the Gauntlets of Genesis is located,” said Dojo as the Xiaolin Warriors mounted off him. They were currently at a temple ruins at the edge of a sparse rocky cliff.

“Let’s split up,” Raimundo commanded. “We can find the gauntlets easier that way.” The rest of them agreed so each of them went separate ways. As Lily was about to walk away, Raimundo grabbed her arm.

“Raimundo, what are you…”

“I think you should stay with me.” He demanded. “It may be dangerous for you.”

“But I’m capable too just like you guys,” She insisted as she was struggling to break free from his grip. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

“As the leader, I command you to stay with me during this mission.” His voice was stern but he was smiling.

“Okay… fine,” she admitted in defeat. “You win! Sheesh…” she sulked.

“Good,” he winked while releasing her arm. “Let’s go!”

…

Raimundo and Lily were walking in silence while searching for the Sheng Gong-Wu. Despite the deafening silence, both of them knew that the growing tension was very suffocating. Similar thoughts were running across their minds.

“I hate this silence.”

“Why doesn’t he say anything?”

“I’ve finally got the chance to be alone with her but what if I say something wrong?”

“I wanted to talk to him but what should I talk about? Surely he may think that I am a boring girl.”

More silence…

“So, Lily…” Raimundo finally began after he had managed to gather whatever strength within him to talk to Lily. “You’ve already been with us for quite some time now. But I feel that I didn’t really know you that much.”

“Oh?” She stopped walking, surprised with his sudden statement. “What’s with him?” she thought. “What else does he want from me?”

“What makes you said that?” she finally asked him.

“Well… I don’t know…” He shrugged. “It’s just… it’s just that I don’t know much about you… especially your background.”

“What do you want to know about my background?” She demanded, surprised.

“Well… from where you come from and such.”

“Oh… a curious cat, aren’t you?”

Before he could say anything else, she quickly interrupted him. “You’re Raimundo Pedrosa, hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You have eight brothers and sisters. You enjoy surfing and soccer. Before you joined the temple, you were in the circus. Of course, you are the Dragon of the Wind and a Shoku Warrior.” 

His mouth hung open in surprise. “How… I mean… how did you know about me?”

“Well…” She smirked, feeling satisfied with his response. “Let’s say I’ve done my research.”

“That’s not research,” he argued. “You’re just being a stalker. Probably a fan of mine too.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she replied.

“But that’s not fair…” he pouted. “You knew so much about me and yet I knew nothing about you…”

“Lily, slightly older than your age, loves cooking and gardening, really love flowers especially lilies.” she flatly replied.

“But… what about your background? Your family?”

“About that… I don’t really remember…” she admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“My background, my family… I don’t really remember any of it at all.” she slowly replied. “I don’t know whether if I really have a family or not. As for my background… I don’t know about it either. I don’t know from where I came from.”

“Then…” The Dragon of Wind replied softly while holding her hand. To his surprise, she didn’t pull her hand away. “Please tell me what you did remember. There must be something else that you can remember. Please?”

“Well…” She hesitated. “I remember waking up in a hospital. The doctors said that some people found me buried in the mud under a cherry blossom tree in a park. I wasn’t hurt or anything. They tried asking me for details but there was nothing I could tell them. Because of the lack of details, they couldn’t search anything about my background or my family. The doctors declared that I have a severe amnesia. After I was better, the hospital allowed me to stay in their quarters. They told me that I have a knack in cooking and gardening despite my young age so they allowed me to work in the hospital.”

“But what makes you come to us…” He raised an eyebrow, curious. “You know, the temple?”

“Well,” she replied softly. “When I saw an advertisement about the temple, there was this feeling inside of me telling that I must go to the temple. It’s like there’s something or someone at the temple that may have the answer that I’ve been searching for so long.”

“What kind of answer?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “But maybe the answer can help me to know more about myself especially about my past… Hopefully I… Raimundo?” She stopped talking when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her.

“Raimundo? What are you doing?” She was puzzled with his sudden behavior. She knew that he wouldn’t be behaving like this at the temple and she also knew that he wasn’t the type that likes to take advantage on women. But this was definitely new.

“I’m really sorry that you have to suffer all that,” he whispered softly, his voice tinged with sorrow. “That must’ve been a huge burden that you have to shoulder on your own all these years. How I wished that I could take away that pain from you.”

Before she could say anything else, an excruciating pain shot up through her heart! The pain was so severe that she almost fell to the floor while clutching her chest. This was exactly the same pain that she had felt in the kitchen while she was talking with Kimiko. Luckily Raimundo was there to break her fall.

“Whoa!” He gasped as he swiftly caught her in his arms when she was about to fall. “Lily, are you okay?” He was shocked when she was about to pass out from pain. Even her face was drained off colour.

“I…” Lily wheezed while trying to stabilize herself. “Err… I… Err, I… I’m… I’m fine…”

“Are you sure? You didn’t sound convincing enough.”

“I’m fine, Raimundo. Thanks!”

…

Raimundo and Lily had finally caught up with the others. Clay had managed to obtain the Gauntlets of Genesis without much difficulty. While Raimundo was discussing with the other warriors about the Gauntlets, Lily stood a bit farther behind everyone else.

“Why Raimundo was so interested in me?” she thought to herself as all of them were making their way back to the ruins’ entrance. “Sure, he’s a good friend but he’s being super nice to me. Besides… I don’t think he really likes me more than a mere friend.”

“Lily, are you okay?” Kimiko waved her hand over her face. “You seemed to be in a daze for quite a while now.”

“Err… I’m fine… I think…” Lily shrugged, slightly dazed.

“Are you sure?” Kimiko’s eyebrows raised in concern. “You don’t sound convincing enough. Did something happen back there?”

“Well… it’s just that I think that Raimundo was having a crush on me…” she wanted to say but instead she replied:  
“Nothing… it’s just that I’m not feeling well. Perhaps the ruins’ stuffy air makes me hard to breathe.” She tried her best to sound convincing so that Kimiko would not pester her more with unnecessary questions. Luckily Kimiko did believe her.

“Oh… no worries.” Kimiko assured her. “We’ll be out of the ruins in a jiffy.”

After walking for a while, they have managed to reach the entrance. Unfortunately, someone else was already waiting for them.

“Greetings, my Xiaolin nemesis!”

…

Jack Spicer was standing in front of the ruins’ entrance with his Jack-bots surrounding the area.

“Oh, it’s you… again.” Raimundo yawned. “Can’t you go find your Sheng Gong-Wu someplace else? This one’s been taken already.”

“Really?” Jack gasped in surprise. “Too bad. I guess I hafta take it then. Jack-bots, ATTACK!!!”

Jack-bots rained down onto the Xiaolin Warriors. As everyone was fighting off the endless surge of Jack-bots, Lily slowly backed away from the fray and into the ruins.

“Where do you think you’re going, Pretty Newbie?” Jack’s creepy voice suddenly make her jump. She turned around and was face to face with him. “Did you think that I’m gonna let you off that easily after our meeting in the underground terrarium?” He sneered as she immediately got into a battle stance.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she seethed while trying to summon vines and roots from the area. However, there were none of them at all and her hands did not glow green as usual! Slightly alarmed, she slowly inched away from the Evil Boy Genius.

“I forgot to mention,” he calmly explained as he inched closer towards her. “That this temple ruins sit on top of a rocky outcrop where vegetation is zero.” He swiftly grasped her neck, choking her. “In other words, your powers won’t work here.”

“I’m…” She wheezed through battered breaths. “Not… some… idiot… who… only… depends… on… powers…” 

WHAM!!!

Jack Spicer was sent off flying with just a single punch! He slammed into a nearby wall before slumping down onto the floor. Before he could get up, Lily quickly pinned him down with just one foot on his chest!

“Do you think that I was that stupid?” She sneered while crushing his chest. “I’m not solely dependent on my powers! I can do hand-to-hand combat too.”

“Ah…” He smiled despite being in pain. “Very intelligent indeed… just like HE had described” She was slightly distracted by his words. HE? Who? Her foot slowly stopped crushing him. Taking advantage of her momentarily distraction, he silently pressed a hidden switch inside his jacket.

“But not intelligent enough…”

SLAM!!!

Without warning, a metal arm shot out from Jack Spicer's backpack and hit Lily on her head! The impact was so great that it sent her flying over everything else and across the rocky cliff. She slammed into a rocky wall before falling down into the ravine below.

“NO!!!” Raimundo screamed when he saw her falling down. “Lily!!!!” He wanted to save her but the Jack-bots were crowding over him. He looked over helplessly at his other comrades, they too were in the same situation as him. No matter how hard they fought, the Jack-bots kept on coming!

“DOJO!!!” He yelled. “Go save Lily! NOW!”

“I’M ON IT!” Dojo began to transform into his actual form but before he could finish with the transformation, a large number of Jack-bots swarmed over him with a net. He couldn’t break free from it no matter how hard he tried. He then realized that this wasn’t an ordinary net.

“I CAN'T GET OUT!” The dragon cried. “I’M STUCK!!!”

“This can’t be happening! LILY!!!!!!!”

…

It felt like getting hit many times… by speeding cars…

Lily couldn’t open her eyes but she could feel that she was falling down rapidly…

To her death…

In a few more seconds, she will be obliterated into pieces, consumed by the earth below her.

WHAM!!!

SLAM!!!

BANG!!!

CRASH!!!

She finally crashed into the cold hard ground.

“ARGH!!!” she groaned in agonizing pain. It was horrible! She felt as if every single bone in her body were shattered to pieces! She coughed out blood as they began to flood through her lungs.

As she crumpled down wheezing on the ground, witnessing her final moments of living through half-open eyes, she noticed someone was walking towards her. She was drifting in and out of consciousness when a pair of armor boots were standing in front of her. She tried to look up at the person wearing the boots but her eyesight gradually fading away into the darkness.

Despite the darkness, she could feel the person crouched down in front of her and patted her head. Somehow, she was familiar with this person’s touch but she couldn’t recall from where or when.

“Lily…”

This voice… it was strangely familiar…

…

Lily opened her eyes and looked around this strange landscape. Everything was white but there was nothing else; no animals, no trees, no buildings, no people, no nothing. Just empty white nothingness.

“Hello?” she called out loud. “Is anyone here?”

There was no reply, only her own voice echoed back.

“Hello?” She called out again. “Anybody here?”

No reply.

Fed up with the lack of replies, she decided to walk away, hoping to find someone else in this strange white place. However, after walking for quite some time, she hadn’t seen anyone or anything else.

“It’s good to see you again, Lily…”

There was that familiar voice again.

She turned around and saw a young man standing behind her. He was around her age and very good looking with a lean and muscular body in a suit of dark armor, fair porcelain skin and long, greenish spiky hair. However, it was his cold, reptilian yellow eyes that had caught her off guard. He held out his hand towards her.

“Err…” She stammered while backing away without breaking any eye contact with this handsome stranger. “Do I know you? How do you know my name? Have we met?”

A slight pained expression displayed across his face but it disappeared in a split second. “Of course, I know your name, Lily. In fact,” he took out a red flower. “I know EVERYTHING about you.” She looked at the flower in his hand.

“That’s my favourite flower…” she pointed out.

“Yes, my dear.” He smiled. “You’re absolutely right. “It’s your favourite flower, Lily. A lovely flower that matches your name and grace.”

She gasped in shock when she heard him say that. It was the EXACT same voice that she had heard in her vision at the garden back at the Xiaolin Temple!

“How… how do you know so much about me?” she gasped. “I don’t even know about you.” She backed away when she saw the same pained expression in his face. However, she lost her footing and fell down. But before she could fall down, the handsome stranger swiftly caught her in his arms.

“Oh dear,’ he said while inching his face closer to hers. “You should be careful now.” She felt her heart was about to explode when he held her close like this. It was strange of her not to push him away. Instead, she wrapped him in her arms and pulled him closer. Despite being puzzled with her own actions, she felt safe while being in this stranger’s warm embrace. 

He slowly released her after a while. “We will meet again, Lily.” He put the red flower into her hair and began to walk away.

“Wait!” She called out. “I don’t even know your name!”

“Oh,” he stopped and smiled at her. “You’ll know soon enough, my dear...”

…

Lily opened her eyes and looked around. She was finally back in her room in the temple and was resting in bed. She slowly sat up and looked at her hands, they were covered in bandages. She felt around her body and legs, they too were covered in bandages.

“So, the fall was real,” she sighed while continuing to feel the bandages all over her body. As she felt around her head, she felt something soft tucked in her hair. She pulled it out and held it in her hand. 

It was a red lily.

“No way..."


	13. Chapter 13

Ever since he founded out that she was alive, he couldn’t help but to find out more about her, her background and her whereabouts. A thousand years he had waited for her return and now he can no longer wait anymore!

“I can always see her from my viewing pool but it’s not enough.” Chase Young muttered under his breath while watching her doing her daily chores at the temple. He could see that she was recovering from the cliff incident despite having minor bruises on her face and bandages on her arms and forehead. He smiled, feeling relieved after seeing her doing fine after the fall. “I would like to be closer to her but it’s definitely a risk.”

His face changed when she was seemingly friendly with Raimundo. Although they looked like they were bickering with each other, he knew that it can be a catalyst for their relationship to blossom between them. He will definitely make sure that it will not happen.

“Hmm… I better keep a watchful eye on them.” His voice turned cold when he saw both of them were having a friendly quarrel while helping each other with their chores. “I will never let someone else take her heart away… especially if THAT person is from the opposite side.”

…

“What’s the matter?” Raimundo stopped laughing when Lily suddenly became silent and looking around suspiciously.

“I don’t know,” she shuddered while looking around. “I felt a chill all of a sudden.”

“A chill?” He looked around. “It’s in the afternoon and the sun is shining brightly. There’s no way that you’ll be having a chill during a hot afternoon.” He placed his right hand over her forehead. “Maybe you are coming down with a fever.”

“Nonsense,” she brushed his hand away. “It’s not that... It's just... well... it felt as if someone was watching me from somewhere else.”

“Watching you?” He looked over his shoulders and scanned their surroundings. There were no one else in sight except for themselves. “Why would anyone want to watch you? Unless…” He dropped his voice. “Those who are watching are from the otherworldly kind… ha… ha… ha…”

“Stop it, Raimundo.” She smacked his shoulder, hard. “Ouch!” She winced in pain while pulling her hand away. “It’s not funny! I really feel that someone IS watching me.”

“Maybe it’s your imagination.” He grabbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down. “Hey, it’s nothing to be worried about. Okay?”

“Err… okay…”

…

After a tiring day of doing her chores, Lily could finally return to her room for the night. Despite not being fully recovered from the cliff incident, she couldn’t possibly step back and let others to take over her tasks since it wasn’t right for her. At first, she was told to simply rest at her room but she insisted to do her chores. In the end, everyone relented but they gave her a condition; someone must accompany her while she was doing her chores until she was fully recovered again. She readily agreed, as long as she wouldn’t be cooped up in her room.

“Today was a long day indeed.” She muttered to herself as she undid her hair. It fell down to her waist immediately after she took out her hairpin. “I guess a nice warm bath will make me feel better.”

…

“Refreshing indeed!” she said to herself as she stepped out from the shower. Humming, she took a towel and began to dry herself. As she was drying her hair in front of the mirror, she felt a chill running down her spine. It was the SAME feeling from earlier; the eerie feeling of being watched by someone else...

“RATS!” She cussed when her hair towel slipped through her fingers and fell down onto the floor. She bent down, picked it up and continued to dry her hair. However, her face suddenly turned pale and she clutched her bath towel tightly around her body as soon as she looked into the mirror.

Someone else was looking back at her!

It was a man in a suit of armor. He was really good looking with a lean and muscular body in a suit of dark armor, fair porcelain skin and long greenish spiky hair. However, his ungodly eyes had caught her off-guard; they were similar to a lizard’s. She shook her head and blinked again. 

The man in the mirror had vanished!

“Am I seeing things?”

…

“Are you gonna eat that or not?”

“Huh? What?” Lily looked up from her bowl of ramen. They were currently having their lunch of piping hot ramen in chicken broth complete with chicken slices, seaweed, kamaboko fishcake slices, garnished with chopped spring onions and a hard-boiled egg.

“You almost spilled your ramen noodles off the edge of the bowl,” Omi pointed out.

“Oh?” Her reply was short. Nothing else followed afterwards.

“Oh?” Clay tilted his head to the side. “That wasn’t a proper reply.”

“Are you okay, Lily?” Kimiko gently touched her shoulder, her voice slightly shaking with concern. “You were in a daze ever since this morning. Are you sick or something?”

“Oh nothing.” Lily wanted to blurt out. “Just that I saw an image of a young man with lizard-like eyes in my bathroom mirror last night. He had vanished so quickly just like he had appeared...”

Instead, her reply was:

“Oh, nothing. Maybe I was a bit tired from yesterday.”

“I think you should be excused from doing your chores for this one whole week,” Raimundo finally spoke up after being silent for a while. He did notice that Lily was a bit off from this morning; she was slightly quieter than usual and she had this faraway look in her eyes. 

Perhaps she had hit her head too hard during the cliff incident? He wasn’t sure at all.

“But I am fine,” Lily tried to protest. “I can do my chores like the rest of you.”

“Uh-huh,” Raimundo shrugged. “You don’t even sound convincing. As your leader, I order you to take the week off. So that you can fully recover from your injuries.”

“But…” she tried to protest again.

“NO BUTS!!!” All of the Xiaolin Warriors chorused in unison.

…

Since Lily was told to take the week off, she wasn’t allowed to do any chores at all. So, she was quite bored staying in her room all day. However, she couldn’t have a good sleep since she began to have strange dreams recently. Some of them were filled with a mysterious young man whose image she had seen in her bathroom mirror; others were grotesque nightmares which were best for her not remembering them at all. There were nightmares of her getting brutally raped and murdered by three unknown men and getting buried underground under a cherry blossom tree among the rest. But it was hard to do so since most of them kept on repeating again and again. 

It felt so real that it made her woke up at night, shuddering in fear. Despite all of those nightmares, there were a few dreams that consisted of a good-looking young man with long hair in a long-sleeved blue tunic. She had never met him but strangely enough, she felt like she had known him all her life and he knew her too.

“Who is that guy?” She wondered aloud while staring at a vase filled with stalks of fully-bloomed crimson lilies. There will be a new flower on her dressing table whenever she woke up in the morning. There were no notes or anything, just the flowers on their own. At first, she wanted to ask the other warriors but that would make them feeling suspicious and always be on their guard. In the end, she decided not to tell anyone about the flowers.

“This is getting boring,” she said while getting up from her bed. “I need to get out somehow.”

…

Lily wandered aimlessly around the temple. It was quiet as there were no one else around. Only the sound of leaves rustling in the soft breeze was heard.

“Maybe they went off to another quest?” She wondered while walking down the empty corridor. “They get to have all the fun and I’m stuck here in the temple,” she sighed but her eyes lit up when she saw her favourite spot from afar; her swing made from willow fronds beside the lake. “I guess I should put my free time to good use, shouldn’t I?”

…

It was a clear late afternoon. Fluffy white clouds were floating lazily in the blue sky. A pleasant breeze was blowing a sweet floral fragrance from the garden. Rustling leaves were sighing softly in the wind. Lily sat down on her swing with her favourite poetry book in her hand. She really enjoyed reading poetry despite her young age. Some people even found it a bit strange for a young girl like her reading poetry, especially those that were considered as classics. As she was reading her favourite poem, a gentle breeze began to blow, rustling the willow fronds and leaves on the branches. 

“My heart is yours for all eternity,” she read. Before she could continue…

“And my love is for thee, my one and only lady…” A man’s voice whispered in her ear. Somehow, he knew about the poem… her favourite poem. And that voice… it was strangely familiar.

“No…” she shook her head. “It couldn’t be. Maybe I’m hearing things. Could be my imagination.” She looked down at the soft grass beneath her feet. It looked quite inviting.

“I guess I’ll have a quick nap.” She yawned and stretched onto the grass. It was indeed comfortable. The soft grass, warm sunlight and cool afternoon breeze had totally made her feel incredibly sleepy. As her eyes were slowly closing, she could her the same voice again.

“My heart is yours for all eternity and my love is for thee, my one and only lady. We’ll be together again for all eternity.”

“Who… who are you…?”

…

“Lily… Hey Lily!”

Raimundo’s startled voice had woken her up.

“Huh… what?” she rubbed her eyes groggily, still feeling sleepy.

“What are you doing, sleeping out in the open in a flowerbed?”

“A flowerbed?” Lily’s raised an eyebrow in confusion but looked down. Sure enough, she was indeed sleeping in a flowerbed of baby’s breath. Somehow the flowers grew all around her, forming a soft, floral white bed. 

“Come on,” he pulled her back to her feet. “It’s almost dusk.”

“Err… okay…”

…

“Why on earth she slept in a flowerbed?” Raimundo wondered while walking back to his room later that night. When he first saw Lily sleeping amidst the flowers, he almost freaked out! She looked like she was in her own funeral, lying cold and lifeless on top of white blossoms before returning to the cool earth. 

However, she looked beautiful even she was asleep.

“She is lovely,” he sighed. “Only she herself didn’t realize that.”

…

Meanwhile, Lily had just finished her bath. Clad in a towel, she was brushing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror. Suddenly, her hairbrush slipped off from her fingers. It fell down onto the floor with a clunk. 

“RATS!” she grumbled while bending down to retrieve her fallen hairbrush. “Now… where is it… Ah! There it is!” She picked it up and continued to brush her hair. However, her face suddenly turned pale and she clutched her bath towel tightly around her body as soon as she looked into the mirror.

Someone else was looking back at her!

She froze in fear as man in a suit of armor was staring back at her from the mirror. However, he seemed very familiar...

“Oh no…” she gasped; her eyes widened in terror after she finally realized something. Her hairbrush dropped again onto the floor, forgotten.

It was the same man from before!

…

She swiftly turned around to leave the bathroom, thinking that since the man was only a mere reflection in the mirror. 

However, she was dead WRONG! 

The man was standing right there in the bathroom, still as handsome as ever. He flashed a sweet but dangerous smile. She wanted to run past him and call for help but her exit was blocked by this mysterious stranger.

“Thinking of running away? I don’t think so.” He purred; his voice was smooth as silk which mesmerized her. She was surprised to have him read her thoughts. “How did he know?”

“Well… I would call that as one of my talents, my dear.”

“What do you mean?” she readied herself in a battle stance. “Why are you here?” She demanded, expecting him to do the same but the opposite thing happened. 

Instead, he burst out laughing!

“Hey!” she stomped her foot, clearly annoyed by his behavior. “What’s so funny?” she seethed. “I’m ready to fight you off and all you do is laughing at me? How rude!”

He kept on laughing until tears welled up in his eyes, unfazed by her comments.

“Oh, really?” he laughed, slowly eyeing her up and down; his yellow eyes were roaming freely all over her body. “Is THIS your definition of being battle-ready?” Lily’s face went red with both annoyance and embarrassment as she clutched her towel with one hand, making sure that it didn’t slip off from her.

“THAT'S IT!!!” She stomped her foot again; her face was clearly glowering in pure anger. “Towel or not, I’m still gonna hit you… HARD!” She began to charge at him; she was clutching her towel in one hand while the other was balled up in a fist. Before she could even land a punch on him, she slipped over a puddle of water and began to fall down backwards with her arms flailing.

“Whoa, be careful now!” the stranger grabbed her arm and to her surprise, he pulled her into his embrace. Despite being able to save her from bashing her skull into the floor, he himself began to lose his footing…

CRASH!

…

“Are you alright?”

Lily slowly opened her eyes and shocked to see herself lying on top of him with his arms wrapped around her. Even the stranger was startled himself as she could see a tinge of blush on his pale cheeks.

“Err… well…” she stammered; her heart was beating rapidly and her face felt hot with embarrassment. “I’m… fine… I think…”

“Oh no, oh no, no…” Her heart was racing and her face was red; embarrassed the fact that she was wearing NOTHING except for a towel wrapped around her body and she was currently on top of a handsome stranger whom had trespassed into her bathroom. “This isn’t happening…”

“Shhh…” he held her head close to his chest. “Calm down now.” His serene voice was soothing in contrast with his rapidly-beating heart. “You’ll be alright.”

“But I’m…” she tried to look up but he was holding her head firmly against his chest. “Shhh…” he whispered. “You’ll be okay, I’m here now.”

She knew that she shouldn’t trust people easily; ESPECIALLY those who had broken into her bathroom. She definitely knew that she SHOULD have pushed him away from her and call for help. However, she believed that she could trust this stranger wholeheartedly and she even felt a sense of longing towards his touch as if she had really wanted this all along. Suddenly, she felt a wave of drowsiness and her eyes began to close.

“What are you….?” Her voice trailed off.

“Shhh…” he said softly while firmly holding her head. “You’ll be okay now.”

…

“How on earth I lose my control like that?” Chase thought to himself as he was pacing back and forth. Ever since he had returned from her cottage, he felt quite uneasy as he could simply get himself caught by the other warriors since he was trespassing the area. 

On top of that, he even trespassed a girl’s bathroom with a towel-clad girl inside. Seeing her exposed fair skin made him mad with desire that he could simply take her right then. It took all of his might not to rip the towel off her body and devour her entirely. He waved a hand over his viewing pool. An image of a towel-clad Lily was shown sleeping in her bed.

“No…” he shook his head, eyes still fixating on her image. “I better take things slow for now. But I'll have my own way… no matter how crazy and how obsessive it seemed…” He looked at her who was sleeping peacefully and smiled.

“I will not lose her again this time.”


	14. Chapter 14

Ever since she had seen the man in the mirror, Lily felt as if someone was watching her every move. At certain times, she could see him in her mirror but he vanished as soon as she blinked her eyes. Sometimes she felt that she was being followed all the time but every time she looked over her shoulder, there was nothing there. As if being stalked during the daytime was not enough, the man had somewhat managed to HAUNT her dreams.

Flashback mode...

“Ah… my lovely Lily,” the man beamed when she stood in front of him. “You are getting lovelier every time we meet.”

“Why me?” she demanded. “Why do you want to meet me? I don’t even know you at all.”

“That’s when you’re wrong,” he calmly replied. “You do know me… only you didn’t realize it.”

“What do you mean?” She wanted to know.

“I cannot answer your question now but I can promise you,” he kissed her forehead. “that we will definitely meet again someday.”

End of Flashback mode...

“Strange,” she muttered to herself while looking over her shoulder in the deserted hallway. “Nobody’s here but I felt someone’s eyes are on me.”

Meanwhile in a cave somewhere within a rocky outcrop, Chase Young smiled in amusement seeing Lily being cautious all the time.

“Patience, my dear. We will meet again… SOON...”

…

“Okay, so today’s Sheng Gong-Wu is the Ruby of Resurrection.” Dojo explained as he was slowly descending from the sky while carrying the Xiaolin Warriors.

“Ruby of Resurrection?” Kimiko crossed her arms. “That’s pretty straightforward, don’t you think so?”

“Yeah,” Clay agreed. “Its name clearly said what it can do. No explanation needed at all.”

“That’s why we need to get it first,” Raimundo said firmly. “Who knows what would happen if it falls into the Heylin’s hands. Are you listening, Lily?”

“Huh, what?” Lily turned around to face him, looking slightly dazed.

“I said,” Raimundo repeated, slightly annoyed. “Are you listening, Lily?”

“Sorry,” Lily tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “I wasn’t paying attention. But I know that we should not let this particular Sheng Gong-Wu fall into the Heylin’s hands.”

“At least she listens,” Kimiko nudged Raimundo.

…

As soon as they landed on the ground in front of the abandoned castle, each of them went to separate ways to search for the Ruby of Resurrection. Raimundo wanted to pair up with Lily but she politely refused him.

“It’s okay,” she declined politely but firmly at the same time. “I think I can manage on my own.” Since she was being determined about it, he had no choice but to allow her to go on her own. It’s not like he did not trust her but she was still new in this Sheng Gong-Wu business. She may be in danger if she went off on her own.

“Should I follow her?” he wondered as she went off to search for the Ruby in the castle. “But she’ll notice me and she’ll think that I didn’t trust her.”

After a few moments contemplating whether to follow her or not, he finally decided not to follow her out of respect.

“I guess I should make a move now.”

…

It was a HUGE castle!

Lily let her mind wander aimlessly as she was searching for the Ruby. At the same time, she admired the workmanship of the castle. It looked like it was once bustling with activities in the past but now it was deserted. What was once a glamourous castle is now dilapidated with cold stone walls, dusty dark wood furniture, faded tapestries and curtains, rusty metal full-body armors and tall candelabras with old candles. Her footsteps echoed off from the dark marble floor as she walked down the dim hallway. 

It was a good thing that it was still daylight outside because there was no way that there was any electricity in this castle... as it would be problematic when it’s dark. She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her body when the chilly air was blowing through the broken windows as she was passing by.

“If I was a piece of jewelry,” she thought to herself as she stood in front of a door. “I should be inside a special chest or a trinket box.” She slowly pushed the door and it swung open with a creak.

She was standing in what once was a bedroom; an empty four-poster bed missing its mattress, torn curtains, dusty carpeted floor, a wardrobe missing one of its doors and a dressing table with a cracked vanity mirror. Since there was nothing else to see in the room, she inexplicably walked towards to mirror to fix her hair.

“I guess this how duchesses do in the past,” she muttered while fixing her hair in the mirror. As she was fixing her hair, she noticed that someone else was looking back at her from the mirror. At first, she thought she was hallucinating but after rubbing her eyes, the image didn’t go away as she had hoped. 

It was a man… the same man that she sometimes see alongside her own reflection and in her own dreams…

“No… way…” she gasped in fear while backing away slowly from the mirror. “This isn’t happening…” The man in the mirror was still staring at her as she was backing away. She tried to look someplace else but the man’s inhuman-like eyes were strangely hypnotizing. She kept on backing away until...

“Whoa!”

“Argh!!!”

…

“You’re okay, Lily?” Raimundo asked after she bumped into him. He was walking down the corridor and suddenly she walked out from a room… BACKWARDS!  
She really did startle him.

“I’m… errr… I’m…” Her voice was shaking in fear. Even her face was drained of colour. He grabbed her shoulders firmly and looked her in the eyes.

“Lily,” he said but her hazel eyes were darting here and there. “Breathe. Look at me. Look at ME!” she finally looked at him and did as she was told.

“Are you okay?”

“Err… I’m… I’m okay now… I guess.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think so.”

…

Raimundo and Lily walked side by side in silence as they continued their search for the Ruby. After the incident, he insisted that she should walk with him. To his relief, she did not argue with him at all as she was still recovering from shock.

“Whatever that spooked you in that room,” he commented as they kept on searching for the Ruby. “couldn’t spook you now when I’m here.”

“Thanks, Raimundo.” She replied, short and flat. In her head, questions were blazing. Why was the man from her dreams FOLLOWED her here? She couldn’t possibly be dreaming as it was in broad daylight! Maybe the castle’s dank air and dim lights made her seeing things. 

“Oh? What’s that?” She pointed towards a glowing, red light inside a bedroom beside them.

“I think that’s our Ruby. Good job, Lily!” He gently slapped her on her shoulder. “Let’s go!” He grabbed her hand and together they ran towards the red glow. As he grabbed the Ruby, ANOTHER hand was grabbing it at the same time! Suddenly, the Ruby’s red glow had turned into a brilliant bright white light!

“We meet again…”

That voice… that familiar voice…

…

“Chase Young,” Raimundo’s voice was serious as he stepped out from the shadows, his right hand was still holding the Ruby. Even he himself was tightening his grip on it. As for Lily, she couldn’t take her eyes off this mysterious man from the shadows. The man that always haunts her dreams whenever she was asleep and her thoughts whenever she was awake; was now standing in front of her, in the flesh!

“Chase Young,” she repeated his name in her head. “So, that’s HIS name! He’s real?” In her dreams, he looked very inviting but in reality, he was totally the opposite. His long spiky greenish hair, dark full-body armor and yellow lizard-like eyes made him look very foreboding despite being very good-looking. He looked at her and smiled.

“Of course, I’m REAL... My dear.” His voice echoed in her head. She was taken by surprise when Chase actually replied to her using his telepathy. Before she could say anything else…

“Please don’t say anything.” His voice echoed again.

“Raimundo,” Chase Young finally opened his mouth to say something. “I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown. My Thorn of Thunderbolt against your Eye of Dashi!”

“And the challenge?” Raimundo asked as the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors barged into the room.

“Wake the Sleeping Beauty.” Chase paused while looking at Lily. She felt her heart was beating rapidly whenever their eyes met. He looked away and pointed towards the bed beside them. “I’m sure you know the story so I don’t have to explain too much in depth.”

“Of course, I know the story.” Raimundo snapped, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “And the challenge?”

“Simple,” Chase crossed his arms. “The first one to reach Sleeping Beauty at the topmost tower,” he pointed towards Lily and smiled. “And KISS her in order to wake her up wins the Showdown.”

“WHAT!!!!!!!!!”

…

“Wait… WHAT?” Lily felt her face was hot with embarrassment when all eyes were on her. “Me?” she croaked. “Of all people… why me?”

“Because I said so,” Chase said calmly, ignoring Raimundo’s angry stares. “Besides,” he looked at Lily up and down. “You are a lovely girl indeed.”

“You PERVERT!!!” Raimundo spat. “You just want to take advantage of her.” He was clenching his fists in anger.

“Well, call it what you want.” Chase crossed his arms with a smug smile on his face. “But I’m sure that you didn’t want to lose such a valuable Sheng Gong-Wu, right?”

Raimundo looked at him, then at his fellow companions, then at the Ruby and lastly at Lily. Although he was really uncomfortable with this particular challenge but he also didn’t want Chase Young to win ESPECIALLY if Lily was involved.

“Very well,” he sighed. “I accept your challenge.”

“Excellent.”

“Let’s go. XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN!”

…

As soon as both Chase and Raimundo agreed with the Showdown, the entire bedroom shook as if a huge earthquake hit the castle!

The Xiaolin Warriors were in their Shoku tunics except for Lily, who was in a beautiful red ballgown. Her eyelids began to flutter and a long red blanket swept her off her feet as soon as her body began to sway, carrying her into the bed. She was in a deep slumber as soon as her head hit the pillow. As for the Ruby, it was clenched within her right hand. A huge crack suddenly appeared between the bed and everyone else. Without warning, the bed was enclosed within a tower intertwined with roses, vicious thorns and venomous snakes and it kept on going upwards until it finally stopped.

“Gong Yi Ten Pai!”

…

Getting to Lily was NO easy task!

One must climb up the tall tower surrounded by roses set with vicious thorns that cuts deep in your skin and venomous snakes that tend to bite you if you’re not careful. Both Raimundo and Chase had difficulty in scaling up the tower but thanks to their respective Sheng Gong-Wu, they managed to clear off the obstacles in their path. Both of them were already halfway towards the top.

“What’s the matter?” Chase attacked Raimundo using his Thorn of Thunderbolt. “Losing your edge already?”

“You’re the one to talk,” Raimundo dodged his attack and countered with his Eye of Dashi. “I’m just getting warmed up.”

“Oh really?” Chase smiled smugly. “I thought you were already warmed up earlier. Was it jealousy?”

“Jealous?” Raimundo spat as he was firing again. “Why should I?”

“I can see the way you look at her. You LIKE her, don’t you?”

“WHAT?” Chase’s question had totally caught him off guard. Was it too obvious?

“AN OPENING!!!” Chase fired again at Raimundo. It was too fast that he couldn’t dodge it. As a result, he was hit in the shoulder. 

“I’ll be taking her lovely lips.” Chase flashed an evil smile. “Goodbye, Raimundo.” The impact had made him lost his footing and he was crashing down towards the ground below. He tried grabbing the roses but their thorns cut his hands like razor blades, forcing him to let go.

…

Chase Young kept on climbing the tower but with Raimundo gone, everything was much easier. However, Raimundo’s reaction earlier was bugging his mind. He was a bit worried when Raimundo was also crushing on Lily. Her heart belonged to him and him ONLY. Not everyone else’s and definitely not Raimundo’s.

“Never mind that,” he thought to himself as he was almost at the top. “I’ll make sure that he will never have her. EVER.”

He finally reached at the top of the tower and he swiftly climbed in through the window. The room was bare except for a king-sized bed in the center. His heart was racing when he saw Lily sleeping in the bed. She was beautiful in her red ballgown, just like an ACTUAL Sleeping Beauty. He sat down beside her on the bed and tenderly caressed her cheek.

Oh, how he missed her! 

Physically, she hasn’t changed at all. He was relieved to know that his thousand years of loneliness has finally come to an end. He lowered his face towards hers.

“I missed you so much.”

Slowly, tenderly, he kissed her on the lips.

…

“You…” Lily slowly opened her eyes. “You’re…”

“Do you recognize me?” Chase asked, his hand holding hers. Surprisingly enough, she didn’t flinch or snatch her hand away from him.

“You’re the man in my dreams,” she gasped at the sight of the Heylin Prince holding her hand. “You’re Chase Young?”

“Indeed,” Chase nodded while kissing her hand. “I’m glad to see you again.”

“But… why me?” Lily gripped his hand, confused with his actions.

“Well… that’s a long story." He sighed but chuckled faintly at her confusion. "But I would love to get to know you better... Lily...”

“Err… okay… I guess?”

“I’ll be seeing you again someday. But please keep our conversation a secret and please act like we’re strangers whenever we met during a Sheng Gong-Wu hunt.”

“Why?”

“Well, the reasons are obvious don’t you think so? Xiaolin and Heylin can’t be under the same page. Ever.”

“Err… okay…”

“Good.”

…

The Showdown has been completed. Chase Young had successfully obtained the Ruby of Resurrection and the Eye of Dashi while retaining his Thorn of Thunderbolt. The challenge tower had vanished and everything was returned to normal. 

“I enjoyed today’s Showdown.” The Heylin Prince beamed while holding his new Sheng Gong-Wu. “Definitely one of my favourites. We’ll meet again, Xiaolin Warriors.” With those words, he disappeared from their sight. As soon as he was gone, the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors surrounded Lily who was still in bed. Her eyes were open but she was in a daze. She slowly ran her finger on her lips, they felt warm and tender from the kiss… His kiss… 

Questions were fired. She could her all of them talking but she couldn’t make sense any of it.

“Lily, are you okay?”

“Did he hurt you?”

“That pervert! He’ll pay for this!”

“Lily, please say something.”

“I think she was still in shock.”

“Let’s go back. Clay, please carry her.”

And everything went black...


	15. Chapter 15

“I’m glad to see you again…”

“But I would love to get to know you better.”

Chase’s words kept on echoing in her mind repeatedly. Ever since their first meeting during the Ruby of Resurrection Showdown, Lily couldn’t seem to take him off her mind. She was relieved to know that Chase Young is a REAL person because she may turn out mad since he always haunts her in her dreams whenever she slept and always appears in her mirror alongside her reflection during daylight.

“I don’t know how he did it but at least he isn’t a ghost or a phantom.” She sighed, remembering the Heylin Prince's physical appearance.

“His muscular body in full-body armor, his long spiky hair, his pale skin, his angular jawline, his drop-dead gorgeous face and his other-worldly yellow eyes. My oh my…” she blushed while staring dreamily at the blue, cloudless sky. “He is totally handsome!”

…

“She seems quiet nowadays, don’t you think so?” Raimundo commented as he and Clay were arranging the books in the library.

“Who?” Clay wanted to know.

“Lily,” Raimundo replied. “Ever since that Sleeping Beauty Showdown, she was always in a daze. She will not speak to anyone unless spoken to.”

“Maybe she’s in shock?” Clay shrugged, picking up a few more books before putting them back onto their respective shelves. “To be a subject of a Showdown and got her first kiss stolen from her by the enemy? Who wouldn’t?”

“First kiss?” Raimundo blushed, remembering the moment where he performed CPR on her to save her life. “No,” he thought. “That doesn’t count!”

“For some people,” Clay explained. “Their first kiss is a big deal and usually they have their first kiss with the person they love because it is more meaningful that way.” He picked up an arm-load of books and placing them onto their shelves. “But to have it taken away by an unknown stranger especially from the enemy’s side… Well… I pity her for being in such a situation. Poor Lily.”

“I pity her too,” Raimundo sighed, putting down his books. “It’s just that I’m surprised that Chase Young would pull of such a stunt like that. I mean, how could he?”

“I can see the way you look at her. You like her, don’t you?” Chase’s last words echoing in his thoughts.

“However,” Raimundo continued. “I’m still worried about her.”

“If you’re so worried about her,” Clay replied. “Then go ask her how she’s feeling.”

“Yeah, I guess I should be asking her later.”

…

“Lily, can I talk with you for a moment?”

“Why, yes. Sure.”

Raimundo was heading towards the dining room and he accidentally bumped into Lily who was coming in from the main hall. Thinking that this was his chance since it was just the two of them in the corridor, he quickly pulled her aside.

“Raimundo?” She was surprised with his sudden actions; pulling her to the side while cautiously scanning their surroundings just in case someone else will suddenly walk up to them. “Are you okay? What is it?”

“Nothing,” he sighed. “It’s just… well…”

“Yes?”

“Well…” he began. “It’s just… I’m worried about you.” He waited for her response but when she didn’t say anything, he continued. “Ever since we got back from the Ruby Showdown, I noticed that you are quieter than usual.” He noticed that she was slightly pale and there was a faraway look in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…” The Dragon of Wood was lost for words. She was amazed that he had noticed something was off about her.

“I’m sorry that you have to went through that Showdown,” the Dragon of Wind apologized. “I didn’t expect that he would suggest such things for a Showdown…” He wanted to say that he should have done better during the Showdown but he swiftly held his words back since he didn’t want her to think about him the wrong way. To be honest, he was still regretting the fact that he lost the Showdown. If he had won the Showdown, not only he can keep THREE Sheng Gong-Wu, he could even kiss Lily for real this time; an ACTUAL kiss.

“What was I thinking?” He shook off those thoughts as he focused back into the present.

“It’s okay, Raimundo.” She sighed. “I’m okay… I think… It’s just…” her voice trailed off…

“But please keep our conversation a secret and please act like we’re strangers whenever we met during a Sheng Gong-Wu hunt.” Chase’s husky voice echoed again; reminding her of their promise.

“Well?” Raimundo waited for her reply.

“I’m okay,” Lily replied. “It’s just that I was a bit shaken by the incident. That’s all.”

“Really?” He lifted one eyebrow in suspicion.

“Yes,” she nodded, trying to sound as honest as possible. “I never imagined that I was to be a subject of one’s Showdown. It’s kinda weird as well. But I’m okay now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Don’t you worry about me, okay?”

…

It’s a brand, new day. Lily yawned and stretched on her bed while shielding her eyes from the blinding morning sunlight that shone through her bedroom window. The thought of last night’s dream still hung over her head. Recently she kept on dreaming about Chase Young and last night was no different at all.

Lily’s dream flashback...

“My, you are lovely indeed,” Chase beamed whenever he saw her. She looked down at her appearance. Nothing was unusual as she was wearing her usual nightgown; a knee-length, sleeveless, off-the-shoulder nightgown made from black satin. She even let her hair down since she wasn’t comfortable letting her hair bound whenever she slept.

“Lovely?” she shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“Silly Lily,” he laughed. “You are lovely, don’t you know that?”

“No,” she shook her head. “And I don’t know whether that you are being honest or just simply being plain sarcastic.”

“Me? Sarcastic?” he laughed again. “That’s a mean accusation there,” he pouted. “How could you?”

“Oh yeah?" She crossed her arms. “Now you’re being all pouty and such. It will damage your handsome and charismatic persona.” Before she could say anything else, the Heylin Prince suddenly stood beside her, his arm slung over her shoulders and his handsome face was very close to hers.

“So, you finally admit that I’m handsome eh?” he smirked while holding her chin, feeling amused seeing her face was blushing with embarrassment. “Mean, pretty girls like you should be PUNISHED.” He whispered while letting his lips straying all over her neck. She was slightly uncomfortable with holding her this close but somehow, she didn’t want to push him away.

“Chase,” she muttered between held breaths. “Why are you doing this? Why me?” He didn’t answer as he kept on kissing her neck. Oh, how he missed her so much!

“Chase, I… ahh…” she sighed while clutching on his head. “Ahh…” She felt her face getting hotter and hotter as he was busy planting hot kisses here and there. Without warning, her knees gave away and she fell towards the ground.

“Oh dear,” he smirked, catching her in his arms. “I guess I went a little too far.”

“Ahh…” she wheezed; her breaths were uneven. “You don’t say…”

Chase sat down while letting Lily rest her head on his lap. “Sorry about that,” he apologized, feeling slightly guilty after seeing her face blushing brightly. “I guess I went overboard heh heh…” He kissed her forehead.

“I have so many questions to ask you,” she replied between short breaths. “Of all people, why me? How do you even know me? How do you even find me? Who are you, really?”

“That…” He paused, thinking of a suitable reply. “Unfortunately, I can’t answer that for now. Besides, it will spoil our fun of getting to know each other better.”

“That’s not fair,” She sighed in disappointment from his response.

“Hey,” he held her hand. “I got a feeling that we will meet again soon. Perhaps in the next upcoming Showdown?”

“Oh yeah?” She looked up at him. “Will I be your subject again?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “But I do know that we will meet again. That I can promise you.” He kissed her forehead again, only longer this time.

End flashback...

“It felt so real,” Lily shuddered while tracing her neck with her finger. For some reason, she felt a tingling sensation there from where Chase had kissed in her dream. “It felt too real…” She buried her head in her hands. “AM I LOSING MY MIND?”

…

“Today’s Sheng Gong-Wu is the Canary’s Collar,” Raimundo explained as they were soaring through the gloomy skies. Lily huddled closer to catch a glimpse of the said Sheng Gong-Wu. At a glance, it looked like a fashionable collar or a choker adorned with topaz.

“It looks like a girl’s necklace.” Omi pointed out.

“It’s a choker, Omi.” Kimiko corrected him.

“The Collar enables the user to scream at higher volumes with a supersonic speed,” Raimundo continued. “Basically, you can sweep off your opponent in just a single supersonic scream using this collar.”

“That is an awesome Sheng Gong-Wu!” Kimiko clapped her hands in excitement. “Just pop it around your neck and blow off your enemies with a loud-ass scream. I would love to have that Collar!”

“And getting my ears bleed?” Omi covered his ears. “No thanks.”

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Kimiko seethed angrily.

“OW! OW! OW!” Omi yelped in pain as Kimiko was pinching his cheeks. Hard.

“Now, now…” Clay tried to calm them down. “Let’s not fight here unless…” he added calmly. “If both of you want to freefall from the sky. By all means, do keep on fighting.” There was a dangerous tone in his calm voice.

At once, Kimiko and Omi stopped fighting.

“Are those two always fight a lot?” Lily asked Raimundo.

“Yeah”

…

“Why does the Sheng Gong-Wu have to be in the most remote, inaccessible places?” Lily grumbled to herself as she dodged a few branches jutting out above her head. They were currently in a dense, tropical jungle and since it was a large area, they all agreed to split up in order to find the Canary’s Collar. At first Raimundo wanted to go with her but she politely declined his offer, saying that he should have given her the chance to be on her own. In the end, he obliged.

To be honest, this was actually her first time exploring on her own without anyone else nearby. She did go off on her own during the Ruby quest but she ended up walking with Raimundo after she was spooked by Chase’s apparition in the mirror at the castle. But now since she was all alone, there was a pang of fear in her heart as she ventured deeper in the jungle. Leaves rustled and branches shook in the wind. Animal calls and hisses were echoing here and there.

“Where is that damn Collar?” She cursed, pushing away a flowering stray vine off from her face. “This jungle is damp and sticky, can’t we just find the Collar and go home already?” She looked up and saw grey clouds were rolling in closer. She could even hear thunder booming somewhere distant. “Great, it’s gonna rain soon.” She sighed, keeping herself alert with her surroundings while searching for the Collar. Her patience and persistence had finally paid off as she saw something shiny poking out from one of the logs on the jungle’s floor. She ran towards the logs and sure enough, it was the Canary’s Collar. As her fingers were wrapped around the Collar, suddenly it glowed into a brilliant white light! When the light died down, she noticed that there was ANOTHER hand on the Collar. Seeing that familiar gloved hand, her heart sunk as there was no mistake at all regarding her opponent in her next upcoming Showdown. His husky voice echoed in her mind, reminding her of his promise.

“I got a feeling that we will meet again soon. Perhaps in the next upcoming Showdown…”

“But I do know that we will meet again. That I can promise you.”

…

“See, I told you we will meet again.” Chase Young smiled. “However, I didn’t expect you to be my opponent in this Showdown.”

“What should I do?” Lily stammered, clearly afraid with him knowing that she should not take him lightly as he was one of the strongest warriors from the Heylin side.

“We’ll have the Showdown as usual,” the Heylin Prince explained, darting his lizard-like eyes here and there to make sure that no one was eavesdropping their conversation. “I want you to fight me like a real opponent. Do your best to defeat me and don’t hold back.”

“What if you get hurt?” She protested.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her, dismissing her worries. “Remember our promise.”

“I will…”

Chase Young’s eyes suddenly narrowed into evil, yellow slits as the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors barged in on them. Raimundo was shocked to see Lily was holding the Collar with the Heylin Prince of Darkness. “No… No… No…” he thought to himself. “Lily shouldn’t be fighting Chase Young. He’s too powerful for her.” Chase heard his thoughts and smiled. “That’s what you think, silly boy.” Even Lily was shocked with this sudden change; gone was the warm and dashing Chase Young and in his place stood a figure full with unforgivable evil. She felt a dark, cold aura emanating from him when he opened his mouth to speak.

“Ah…” He addressed the Warriors coldly. “My Xiaolin Warriors, how nice of you to barge into our meeting."

“Chase Young,” Raimundo tried his best to keep his composure. “We meet again.”

“That’s the Collar,” Kimiko pointed towards the object in Lily’s hands. “She found it!”

“No,” Chase shook his head, glancing at Lily who was frozen at his sudden façade change. He briefly touched her hand before showing off the Collar. “WE found it, my dear. TOGETHER.” He purposely emphasized the words “WE” and “TOGETHER” just to make Raimundo jealous.

“Since both of them had found the Collar together, they have to fight for it in a Xiaolin Showdown.” Omi replied. He is worried about Lily because he knew that Chase Young was hard to defeat.

“Oh yes,” Chase nodded in agreement. “We must have a Showdown in order to get the Collar. You, pretty girl!” he pointed towards Lily.

“Who, me?” Lily stared at him, clearly confused with his games.

“Remember what I’ve told you. Just play along so that they won’t suspect anything.” Chase reminded her using his telepathy.

“You, pretty girl” he demanded coldly. “What is your name?”

“Err… Lily?”

“Lily? Lovely.” He complimented coldly. “Lily, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown.” The rest of the Warriors could just helplessly stand and watch as Chase continued.

“The challenge is simple, the first one to reach the edge of the jungle will win the Showdown. However,” he paused, looking at Lily’s worried face. “our feet cannot touch the ground. If either of us touch the ground, the match is over.”

“Fine by me.” Lily nodded. “The wagered Sheng Gong-Wu?”

“My Eye of Dashi and your… what was it again?”

“Bangle of Blooms.”

“Very well. My Eye of Dashi against your Bangle of Blooms. Do you accept my challenge, Lily?"

He looked at the rest of the Warriors, feeling satisfied after watching Raimundo’s face darkened with jealousy and worry before focusing on Lily.

“I want you to fight me like a real opponent. Do your best to defeat me and don’t hold back.” He reminded her again telepathically.

“Yes, I accept your challenge. Chase Young."

“Excellent. Let’s go! XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN!!!”

…

As soon as Lily and Chase Young agreed with the Showdown, the trees around them began to shake and they shot out from the ground, growing taller and taller until they were five times taller than their original height. Long vines were trailing down from the branches. Chase and Lily stood on different branches, facing each other. As for the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors, they were sitting on the branches of a shady raintree, clad in their respective Showdown outfits. A path towards the edge of the jungle were lined up with red, tattered cloth.

“Remember,” Chase Young reminded her. “The first one who reach the edge of the jungle wins this Showdown. However,” he pointed towards the ground below them. “If either of us touched the ground, the Showdown will be over and victory is being given to the opposing side.” Lily looked down beneath her feet and realized that they were way up high in the trees. Anybody that falls down from this height will die instantly.

“Are you ready, Lily?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Gong Yi Ten Pai!”

…

Lily and Chase were jumping off from the branches as they were on their way towards the finish line. They were moving so swiftly that they were just blurry shadows in the eyes; zooming here and there. Without warning, he attacked her using his Eye of Dashi. She had managed to dodge off his attack but just barely. He almost hit her at her leg.

“Why is he attacking me?” She was alarmed, dodging another attack while taking care not to lose her footing on the branches. Chase Young was unrecognizable, he was being cold and ruthless while firing his Sheng Gong-Wu at her. “What’s the matter, pretty girl?” He purred while firing another shot. “Are you afraid of me?”

“Are you crazy?” Lily yelled back, evading another blow. “This is getting out of hand!”

“Just play along.” Chase reminded her again telepathically. “Remember our promise.” He appeared beside her, put an arm over her shoulder and swiftly kissed her right cheek, ignoring the Xiaolin Warriors stares of shock and Raimundo’s burning jealousy.

“What are you-?”

“An opening!”

Without warning, Chase Young fired his Eye of Dashi at a close range, hitting Lily’s left shoulder. Everything happened so fast that she didn’t have time to dodge it nor react to it. She only realized that she was hit after feeling a burning sensation on her shoulder and she was falling backwards towards the ground.

“Goodbye, pretty girl.” He smirked before dashing off. “I’ll be taking the win today. Ha ha ha!”

“Oh no, you don’t!” She screamed, her eyes and hands began to glow green. Even the Bangle of Blooms were glowing as well.

…

Vines from the trees were snaking down and they began to intertwine themselves, forming a net underneath Lily as she was falling down rapidly. However, she did not crash into the ground as the net had caught her and the vines were pulling her backwards as far as they can.

“You’re not taking me down that easily,” she muttered, flicking her right hand. At once, the net of vines had catapulted her forward, sending her flying through the jungle. Chase Young who was casually bouncing off the branches had stopped in his tracks after seeing the Dragon of Wood whizzed past him.

“I’m not gonna let you as off as simply as that,” he smirked, firing his Eye of Dashi towards her. Lily who was flying, noticed the attack and flicked both of her glowing green hands upwards. An enormous wall of solid oak shot up from the ground, shielding her from the blow as it exploded upon impact. The impact was so strong that she was sent flying into a nearby tree.

“My…” He stood a few feet away from her. “You are indeed special, pretty girl.” He beamed, feeling impressed with her abilities. Without a doubt, this is the REAL Lily. His long, lost, beloved Lily. “Who knows that you could control plants and trees at your disposal? A rare gem indeed. Or should I say, a rare emerald indeed…”

“Emerald?” She looked up, confused. At once, an image of a pair hands putting on an emerald wedding ring on her ring finger suddenly flashed into her mind.

“With this ring, we are bound as eternal lovers. Now and hereafter.” A man’s voice rang out and it was very familiar…

“Arghh,” she knelt down, clutching her head. The pain was excruciating! Chase just stood by, staring at her. “What’s wrong with her?” It took all his might not to pull her into his arms, knowing that the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors were watching their every move.

She slowly got back to her feet, panting. “I’m… not… done… yet…” With a wave of her glowing hands, vines began to bind themselves around her opponent. “I’m sorry but I have to win this Showdown!” With those words, she sped off, leaving him behind.

“This is getting interesting,” he smiled, breaking free from the vines. “We’ll see who will emerge as victorious!” He went after her while firing his Eye of Dashi. She did not back down that easily as she tried her best to repel his attacks using her powers. Walls made from solid oak immediately rose from the ground and they were destroyed almost immediately. She kept on pushing forward and to her relief, the finish line was not far from her.

“I can do this,” she thought to herself as she was getting closer.

“Yes, you can.” Chase's voice echoed in her mind.

Her hands were glowing green as she pulled both of them down. Trees began to fall from the sky and they formed a tall, green wall, blocking Chase’s path. As if that wasn’t enough, vines shot up from the trees and binding his entire body while trying to pull him down towards the ground. She didn’t dare to look back as she was very close towards the finish.

“Let’s end this!” she screamed, leaping as far as she could.

…

“The Showdown has been completed.” Chase nodded. “As promised, here is the Canary’s Collar and the Eye of Dashi.” He handed the items towards Lily. “Not bad at all, pretty girl.” He looked at the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors before focusing on his lost beloved. “You have a lovely emerald in your party. We’ll meet again.” With those final words, he sped off.

“Congratulations, Lily!” Kimiko gushed.

“Not bad for a newbie, Lil’ lady.” Clay smiled. “You were LIT!”

“You are the best, Lily!” Omi cheered, slapping her on her shoulder.

“Err… Thanks,” she winced in pain from the burn earlier. “Ouch!”

“Are you okay?” Raimundo’s voice mellowed with concern, inspecting her injured shoulder. There was a large gaping, bloody wound with singed, burnt flesh around it. “He got you… bad. He even kissed your cheek!” he seethed. “That Heylin pervert! He’ll pay for this!”

“I’m fine, Raimundo.” Lily flashed a weary smile, slightly surprised with his sudden outburst. “Did I do okay?”

“Yes,” Raimundo nodded, his anger ebbing away slowly while still worrying about her. “You did way better than I expected. Great use of your powers there.”

“I think we should go back now,” Clay looked up. “It’s going to rain.”

“Let’s go!”

…

Since Lily had won the Showdown against Chase Young and had injured herself, she was excused earlier from any upcoming activities later that day. Master Fung was pleased with the outcome but deep down in his heart, he was worried with his premonition about Lily, especially when Raimundo had informed him about Lily using her powers during her Showdown against Chase Young.

“Let’s hope that it wasn’t true,” he sighed.

Meanwhile, Lily had finished taking her bath and had applied healing cream on her burnt wound from the Eye of Dashi. Her conversation with Raimundo earlier was replaying in her mind.

Flashback...

“Here,” Raimundo handed her a purple tube of cream. “Use this. I’ve used it when he had hit me with the Thorn of Thunderbolt during the Ruby Showdown. It worked almost instantly and the scarring fades in about three days.”

“Did it hurt when you got hit by the Thorn of Thunderbolt?” She wanted to know.

“Well,” he paused, remembering that she had no idea that he was injured during the Showdown since she was still asleep at that time. “It did hurt quite bad and I felt that my shoulder was burning.”

“Oh dear,” she sighed, feeling bad about him getting hurt because of her. “I’m really sorry about that."

“Hey,” he placed a hand on her right shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s not even your fault.” He assured her while gently squeezing her shoulder. “Right now, it is important for you to have your rest and heal yourself.”

“Thank you, Raimundo.”

End of flashback...

Lily picked up her dirty clothes from the quest earlier.

“Oh dear,” she sighed in dismay after seeing a huge gaping hole on her tunic’s shoulder. “I can’t wear this anymore.” As she was about to toss the ruined tunic into the dustbin, a small piece of paper fluttered down from the tunic.

“Oh,” she knelt down to pick it up. “What’s this?”

The paper turned out to be a note as there was something written inside it. Her face drained of colour after reading the note.

“When did he…?”


	16. Chapter 16

“Meet me in the middle of the forest behind the temple grounds tonight...”

She was amazed that Chase Young had managed to slip the note into her tunic without anyone noticing it during the Showdown earlier. It was neatly handwritten in blood-red ink... 

Or was it BLOOD? 

However, she didn’t let the thought faze her as she was sneaking off the temple grounds later that night. It was a good thing that she was excused from the temple activities early since she had won today’s Showdown. So, she had no problems sneaking out without being seen by anyone else but she didn’t want to take any chances so she kept herself in the shadows.

When she reached the heart of the forest, everything seemed quite ethereal. The bright moonlight was casting a silvery glow to her surroundings. Night-blooming flowers were filling the air with their sweet fragrance. A soft breeze was blowing, rustling the leaves off their branches.

“I knew that you would eventually come…”

She would’ve heard him coming but she didn’t hear anything at all. There was no tell-tale sound or any signs of him approaching. She turned around and there he was in his glory. The silvery moonlight bouncing off his armor made him more attractive.

“I didn’t hear you coming at all,” she said softly as he stood in front of her.

“You didn’t have to.” Chase replied, smiling at her but his smile faded away after seeing her left shoulder. The wound had dried up but there was a fresh scar in its place. “Oh dear,” he commented guiltily while touching her scarred shoulder. “I must’ve hit you too hard earlier. Does it still hurt?” 

She placed her hand on his. “It was terrible earlier since it was a nasty burn but it’s gradually healing now.” she assured him. “You did what you had to do... even though you do kinda went overboard.” 

The Heylin Prince hung his head in guilt. “I’m really sorry about this. I didn’t mean it to be this bad.” The Xiaolin Dragon of Wood said nothing but gave a quick peck on his cheek, smiling as she did so.

He smiled back at her while taking her hand. “Are you ready?”

“Where are we going?” She was curious, her hazel eyes lit up in excitement.

“You’ll see soon enough.” He pulled her into an embrace, taking care not to add more injury to her already-injured shoulder and in a split second, they took off into the night’s sky!

“This is amazing!!!” She exclaimed as they were flying through the night. He hold her tightly so that she wouldn’t slip off his arms. “Do you always fly around into the night like this?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “I always fly around like this but this is my first time flying together with someone else.” There was a bit of sadness in his voice but she didn’t notice at all.

“Really?” She giggled. “I guess I’m your lucky girl then.”

“It’s true,” he insisted as they went through a puffy cloud. Seeing her giggling with bits of cloud puff in her hair really made him feel better. It’s been ages since he last saw that giggle, that smile. Everything about her was exactly the same as a thousand years ago. “I could do this all night if I wanted to… but yeah…” his voice trailed off.

“Me too,” she admitted. “How I wish I could soar through the skies with you. But it’s not possible…” They both knew that it was impossible. Being on opposing sides of good and evil, it was difficult for both of them. 

It was ironic, being enemies during the day and something else when night fell. There was silence between them as the same thought lingered in their minds.

“Err…” Lily's voice broke the silence between them. “Where are we going actually?”

“Well,” Chase smirked. “You’ll see... In fact, we’re almost there.”

“There?” She looked down as they were approaching a sinister cluster of mountains. It looked forbidding as no vegetation could survive on its rocky landscape, surrounded by heavy mists. 

“Hold on tight,” he commanded while tightening his grip around her. Before she could say anything else, they began to fall out from the sky… rapidly…

As they were about to plunge into the heavy mists below them, she was horrified that they were falling down to their deaths that she gripped the Heylin Prince so hard while burying her face in his chest, feeling awfully terrified of what’s next to come. Her sudden actions had him feeling startled as well.

“Oh dear,” he thought while tightening his embrace as they were falling down through the mist. “She is terribly frightened.” He could feel her heart beating swiftly as he held her close. “Poor, sweet Lily.”

It felt like they were falling down forever until they suddenly landed unscathed with a thump. Chase looked at Lily who was yet to lift her head even though they were safely on the ground.

“Lily,” he whispered softly while stroking her head. “It’s okay now. We’re safely on the ground.” He withdrew his hand when she finally looked up at him before scanning the surroundings.

“Where are we?”

“Welcome to my lair.”

…

Chase Young’s lair was in an enormous cave deep inside the mountains. Candles and oil lamps lighted up the lair with their eerie glow. Ancient tapestries hung on the cave’s rocky walls. In a corner of the cave, there was a huge dining table, fit for a king’s meal. In another corner, there was a shallow pool, its water was surprisingly a forbidding midnight black. At the center of the lair, there was a platform with a throne on it. Several lions, tigers, leopards and panthers were lazing around the platform, a few of them were already curled up asleep.

“Are those your pets?” Lily pointed out at them. However, as soon as she said that, all of them were wide awake and began to pounce on her. But before any of them can reach her, Chase shielded her and snapped his fingers. They immediately dropped onto the floor at once!

“Sorry about that,” he apologized while taking her hand. “My Jungle Cats were trained to keep unwanted visitors off my lair.” He added hastily when seeing her face changed. “No, I didn’t mean you. You’re never an unwanted guest. In fact, I myself wanted you to come here.” 

He turned his attention to his Jungle Cats; frozen in fear after sensing their Master's wrath. “Starting from this moment,” he commanded while pointing towards her. “You are never to harm Lily! You will PROTECT HER as you are protecting me! You will also follow her orders as you are following mine! THAT IS AN ORDER! UNDERSTAND?”

All of the Jungle Cats replied with a loud roar, signifying their understanding of the Heylin Prince's absolute orders.

“Wow!” She exclaimed after he led her away from the Jungle Cats. “You can really control them? THAT'S COOL!!!”

“Nah,” he shrugged. “That’s nothing... really.” He tried to be humble but he really enjoyed the praise. “Anyway, would you like to have a look around?”

“Well,” she blushed, hesitating. ”Is it okay? I could get lost, you know.”

“With me,” he took her hand, smiling. “You’ll never be lost.”

…

Chase Young’s lair was HUGE! There were many rooms inside the lair and some of them were located on different levels.

First, Lily was taken to the library. There were more tapestries hung on the walls, tall Ming vases and brass candelabras stood beside huge bookcases crammed with mysterious books about the dark arts, history and other stuff. A comfy-looking sofa bed was beside an antique table.

“Whenever I have my free time, I always stayed down here. Reading can be the best therapy sometimes.” Chase pointed towards the sofa bed.

After venturing into the library, he led her towards the kitchen. She was impressed that despite the lair was in a cave, the spacious kitchen was stocked up with modern facilities, similar with those at her cottage back at the temple. Even the kitchen utensils were from the best qualities of top international brands. He picked up a knife, its blade was gleaming under the light.

“Despite living in a cave,” he commented while fingering the knife. “I prefer to have my kitchen in sync with the present.”

Then, she was brought into the weapons’ room. True to its name, the weapons room had all sorts of weaponry imaginable. She noticed there was a large collection of swords and spears inside the room.

“I love using swords and spears,” he smiled. “They give me a better feeling during combat. Although I actually have no problem fighting my opponents bare-handed.”

“So that’s why he always carries a sword,” she thought while looking at a curvy sword made from molten bronze. “It’s his favourite weapon.”

They exited the room and continued to walk up a narrow staircase at the far end of the lair. Unlike the other rooms, this staircase had a cool atmosphere from the cave’s darkness. They kept on ascending the stairs until they reached an onyx black door with intricate golden dragon carvings. Even the golden door handle was shaped like a dragon. The Heylin Prince turned the door handle down and the door swung open. 

“Ladies first.” He beckoned her.

It was pitch black at first but as soon as she stepped into the room, candles magically lighting up on their own! 

In the candlelight, she could see there was a king-sized, four-poster bed in a corner set with a scarlet silk bedspread with fluffy pillows in matching pillowcases. Scarlet silk cloth hung from above the bed like a canopy. A mahogany dressing table complete with a vanity mirror sat across the room. In another corner of the room, there was a huge wardrobe made from solid oak beside antique drawers. More tapestries hung on the walls. She looked down and noticed that the floor was covered with the finest Persian carpets. She looked up again and saw black velvet curtains hanging in front of her. She walked towards them and pulled them back. At once, moonlight flooded through the window.

“It’s not much,” Chase shrugged as he crossed the room to stand beside her. “Just a simple bedroom with basic stuff.”

“Simple?” Lily asked, wide-eyed. “Your bedroom is perfect!” She gushed with excitement. “I wish I could have a bedroom just like this.” He beamed proudly after listening her comments.

“Come,” he said while opening another door. “I’ll show you the bath chamber.”

Her eyes were wide with amazement when he showed her his spacious bath chamber. There were three sections; an open bath with a natural hot spring, a refreshing waterfall flowing into a sapphire blue pool dotted with fallen rose petals from the rose pergolas above it and a private bathroom all complete with modern amenities. The sweet scent from the roses was both calming and sensual at the same time. Moonlight was shining through the chamber from an opening above the open bath. 

“I enjoy bathing in the moonlight,” he commented, his eyes were gazing warmly into hers. “It soothes me.”

…

After the tour, Chase and Lily were sitting side by side on the sofa. They talked about many things with her resting her head on his shoulder. However, Chase was the one with the most questions about her past.

“So, you’re saying that you did not remember anything about your past after waking up in the hospital?” He asked after she had finished telling her story. “None at all?”

“None,” she shrugged “I couldn’t remember anything at all.” She looked at her watch and gasped.

“Oh dear! It’s getting pretty late. I think I should be going back now.”

The Heylin Prince knew that the pretty Xiaolin Dragon of Wood was hesitant to leave but she had to otherwise the rest of the warriors would suspect something was off.

“Come now,” he stood up and held his hand out to help her stand up. “I’ll take you back. Oh? What’s with the long face?”

“Well…” She sighed. “I would love to hang out with you again.”

“No worries,” he assured her. “I can bring you here again.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Are you sure?” She questioned him skeptically.

“I am sure,” he smiled, giving a quick, loving peck on her left cheek.

“EHHH??” Lily touched her cheek, the spot where Chase had kissed just now.

"What?" He smirked in enjoyment as her face was turning red.

“During the Showdown, you already kissed my right cheek.” She blushed in embarrassment. “And now you even kissed my left cheek?”

“Hey,” he giggled, putting an arm over her shoulders. It was funny seeing her face, all red and flustered. “I should be fair towards both.”

“Fair?” she looked him directly into his shining yellow eyes. “Not quite the shy one, are you?”

“My dear,” he kissed the top of her head. “There are lots of things that you don’t know about me yet…”


	17. Chapter 17

Time went by quickly and the autumn season is finally here. All the trees surrounding the temple were displaying their change of foliage. What once was green is now a mixture of shades of yellow, brown and orange. Some trees even began to shed off their leaves.

“Wow,” Lily exclaimed, admiring the pretty autumn colours on the apple trees. “Look at the trees with their lovely leaves. How beautiful!”

“Agreed,” Kimiko nodded as they were sipping hot tea with sweet cakes, enjoying the lovely view. “Here at the temple, we could enjoy this colourful view every autumn thanks to the apple trees surrounding the temple.” She sighed. “I wouldn’t get this kind of view back in my hometown since I’m living in the city center. Buildings everywhere, it’s annoying.”

“Speaking of apple trees,” Omi interrupted them from out of nowhere with Clay following behind him. “You girls want to join us for this year’s apple picking?”

“Apple picking?” Lily looked up, her eyes shining with interest. “I’ve never done any apple picking before.”

“Well,” Clay explained, showing a handful of large gunny sacks. “It’s a yearly tradition here at the temple every autumn when the apples are ready for harvest. We harvest the apples and we donate them to the houses in the villages nearby since our temple is the only place with apple trees. Besides, apples are quite the rarity here. We also keep some of the apples for our supply. Since there will be a lot of apples, we’ll try to pick as much as possible but we’ll try to leave those that aren’t ripe yet for later.”

“Oh yeah,” Kimiko slapped her forehead. “I clearly forgot about this year’s apple picking. Sorry about that.”

“Where’s Raimundo?” Lily looked around, noticing his absence.

“Oh… he’s already at the apple trees.” Omi replied calmly. “He had begun picking the apples.”

“WHAT?” Kimiko gasped. “That JERK! Getting a head-start this year???” She swiftly finished her meal and got up. “Come, Lily. We’re going!”

“But I’m…” Lily wanted to finish her meal first. Luckily Clay noticed her hesitance.

“You’ll go ahead with Omi,” Clay suggested. “We’ll catch up with you guys later.” He tossed the sacks at Kimiko. “Take these to him too.”

Omi and Kimiko nodded before dashing off. Clay looked at Lily and smiled.

“Take your time, I’ll wait.”

“Thanks, Clay.” She offered her cakes while pouring him a cup of tea. “You can have some of mine too.”

“Well, don’t mind if I do.” He accepted the treats, feeling grateful to receive yummy treats on a chilly autumn afternoon. “Thanks, Lily.”

…

“Finally, you guys made it!” Raimundo called from behind large sacks of freshly-picked apples. “I’ve heard that both of you had your snacks before coming here. Where’s my share?”

“Sorry,” Lily giggled. “I left your share in the kitchen.”

“How mean,” Raimundo pouted. “I’m starving, you know?”

“Too bad,” Lily laughed at the Dragon of Wind.

“Well, while you guys are at it,” Clay interrupted, pointing towards another grove of apple trees. “The rest of us will continue over there while the two of you finish off the rest here.”

“Bye, guys! Have fun.” Kimiko laughed before speeding off with empty sacks in her hands.

“Happy apple-picking,” Omi yelled enthusiastically while pushing a wheelbarrow as he followed Clay and Kimiko.

Lily and Raimundo stared at each other, stunned that they were left together to finish the job.

“Well, you heard them.” Raimundo shrugged, picking up a pair of fruit-picking shears. “Let’s finish the job, shall we?” He took a deep breath and leapt up onto the tree’s branches. He started to snip off the apples from their stems before putting them in a sack. When the sack was almost full, he jumped down and emptied the sack’s contents into the larger sacks beneath the tree before jumping up again.

“What are you staring at?” He demanded. “Could you please start picking some apples? You can start picking apples there,” he pointed towards a tree beside his.

“Err… okay…” She obediently picked up a pair of shears and a few empty sacks before walking towards her apple tree. It was a big and tall apple tree; its branches were heavily laden with juicy red apples waiting to be picked.

“Oh dear,” she glanced upwards towards the tree and looked down at the shears and sacks. “That is A LOT of apples. How on earth I can manage to finish picking all of them?” She stared at all the apples on the branches. “Maybe I should start off by picking the best ones first before moving on with the other apples.” She thought to herself. “But how?” She looked down at her hands and smiled.

“Of course!”

She placed her right hand on the tree trunk and her hand began to glow.

“Please give me the best apples that you can offer.” She whispered. “Leave those that weren’t ready for another day.”

At once, the apple tree glowed green and it was shaking as its branches were starting to move forward towards Lily who was standing underneath the tree. They stretched until they touched the ground in front of her. The branches were shaking gently and juicy red apples began to fall off, rolling in the soft grass beneath them. In less than a minute, the grass in front of her was a sea of red apples. After there were no more apples falling off, the branches retracted themselves back into their original position and the green glow had died down. She picked up an apple and looked up at the apple tree with a grateful smile on her face.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for helping me.”

“Hey!” Raimundo cried, surprised to see the apples on the ground. “What…? When…? How did you…? You used your powers for this, right?”

“Err…” The Dragon of Wood smiled sheepishly. “Yeah… I did. But I did finish picking apples off my tree.”

“Oh yeah,” he pointed towards the remaining apples on the branches. “What about those?”

“Oh that,” she explained. “Those weren’t ready for picking yet. I’ll let them be for a while.”

The Dragon of Wind knelt down and picked up an apple. “So, you’re saying that you can make the trees give the best apples to you?” He bit into the apple and smiled. “THIS IS DELICIOUS!!! Makes apple-picking so much easier!”

“I didn’t make them do it,” she protested as she didn’t want to sound too bossy and showing-off. “I just simply ask them for their help. That’s all! The apple tree helped me and I’m thankful for it.”

“We all are,” he nodded. “I hope that you can help the rest of us too.”

“Sure,” she nodded. “But I want to take some of these delicious apples for myself since I love eating apples.” She began to select a few apples before putting it into her personal sack, smiling as she did so.

“By all means, feel free to do so. You deserved it.”

Meanwhile at Chase Young’s lair, he was staring at Lily in his Viewing Pool. He was amazed seeing her using her powers to pick the best apples from the tree.

“She is getting better at using her powers in such a short time,” he beamed as he watched her putting some apples into a small sack. “I’m really impressed.”

…

“I guess that is all for today,” Master Fung looked proudly at all the apples that his disciples had managed to collect. He was impressed seeing this year’s apple trees had yield more apples than last year. He looked at Lily, feeling grateful for her help.

“Thank you Lily, for helping everyone in their apple-picking tasks. I’m impressed that you had used your gift for making things easier.”

“You’re welcome, Master Fung.” She bowed down humbly. “I’m glad that I can help out.”

Master Fung smiled and looked at the apples. “Since it is still daylight, I want the boys to head off towards the nearby villages and give out a sack of apples to each and every household. However, we will give them one village at a time since there are about six villages nearby.”

“Just like last year. Right, Master Fung?” Clay asked for confirmation.

“Yes,” Master Fung nodded and he turned his attention towards the girls. “As for you two, I want both of you to prepare dinner since the boys had already took over the heavy-lifting.

“Yes, Master Fung.”

While the Xiaolin boys were out in the nearby villages, handing out free sacks of apples to each and every household, Lily and Kimiko were hard at work preparing dinner for everyone. Since Lily was far more experienced in cooking, Kimiko let her take control everything while she helped out to clear things off.

“What are you going to cook today?” Kimiko asked while watching Lily opening the temple’s fridge. 

“Hmmm…” Lily was deep in thought while her eyes are scanning the contents of the fridge; pumpkin, almonds, rice, mushrooms, garlic, onions, cabbage leaves, minced chicken, venison loin, carrots, parsnips and other ingredients that happened to be in this chilly autumn season. “I think that I’m gonna go with an autumn-inspired menu since we are currently in autumn season.”

“Ohh… that’s interesting. I want to help.”

“Sure.”

…

By the time the boys had returned, it was already dusk. They had managed to finish distributing all of the apples to all of the households in the nearby villages.

“Whew, we made it.” Clay sighed with relief. “We managed to finish off all of those apples that we have brought.”

“You’ve said it,” Omi nodded. “It’s a good thing that we managed to settle everything by nightfall.”

“And it’s a good thing that we had managed to keep some of the apples for our stock as well.” Raimundo added.

As they were walking past the kitchen, they noticed a delicious smell was wafting in the air. Curious, they had decided to retrace their steps.

“That smells delicious.”

“I smell something is baking and roasting in the oven.”

“Boy, I’m hungry!”

Before they could even poke their heads through the kitchen’s curtain, Kimiko suddenly walked out from it, startling the boys.

“Oh, welcome back.” She said, barring them from entering. “We are still in the middle of cooking something special so you boys better go back and freshen up first. We’ll be having dinner together soon.”

“Oh… alright,” all of them left the area, grumbling with growling stomachs. After making sure that they were no longer in sight, Kimiko went back into the kitchen.

“How much time left?” Kimiko wanted to know.

“Almost an hour.” Lily replied. “I think that you should freshen up first. I’ll take my turn as soon as you’ve arrived.”

“Okay.”

An hour later, everyone was seated around the dining table including Master Fung and Dojo. All of the Xiaolin Warriors had already freshened up and they were wearing their casual clothes. Since it was already nighttime, Master Fung had allowed them to do so since there was nothing else to do. Lily had left the table together with Kimiko so that they can take out their dinner.

“I wonder what they have cooked for us?” Omi wanted to know.

“Probably something special.” Clay shrugged.

Lily and Kimiko finally came out from the kitchen, carrying large trays of food. A wonderful smell began to fill the air as they set down the food.

“For today,” Lily began her explanation while Kimiko slowly uncovering the dishes one by one. “Kimiko and I had cooked a special meal inspired by the autumn season. The flavours are very much international-ish so we hope that all of you would enjoy the meal. We have cooked a Three-Course autumn meal; pumpkin soup for appetizer, roast venison loin with pumpkin and Sichuan salt for the main dish with root vegetable rice and braised stuffed cabbage for side dishes.”

The boys’ mouths gaped open in utter amazement!

“You…” Omi gasped. “You two made all of this? ALL OF THIS???”

“Oh boy!” Clay stared longingly at the roasted venison loin. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve had venison.”

“Pumpkin soup…” Raimundo looked solemnly at the soup, a feeling of nostalgia swept over him. “My mother used to cook this when I was a kid.” He looked at Kimiko and Lily. “Thanks, girls.”

“Looks delicious,” Master Fung smiled at his talented disciples. “Well done, both of you.”

“YEAH... CAN WE EAT NOW???” Dojo demanded impatiently. “I’M STARVING!!!”

…

“Boy, I’m full…” Omi burped in satisfaction.

“That was the best meal ever!” Clay complimented.

Dojo and Master Fung didn’t say anything but they nodded in agreement.

Lily and Kimiko were satisfied seeing all of the dishes had been finished. Not a single morsel was left behind let alone leftovers! They were relieved that everyone was happy and satisfied with the meal.

“Wait a minute,” Raimundo sat up. “You said that this is a Three-Course Autumn Meal. So far we have Two Courses… that means we still have one more to go.”

“We have one more course?”

“Seriously?”

Lily and Kimiko exchanged meaningful glances with each other.

“Wait here,” Lily stood up and disappeared into the kitchen before coming out with another covered dish. It smelled sweet and wonderful.

“I present you,” Kimiko announced when Lily uncovered the dish. “My apple-and-almond tart for dessert.”

“Wait,” Omi paused, looking at the tart in disbelief. “YOU made this? All these years, I never knew that you CAN bake?”

“Of course, I can bake,” Kimiko replied, her voice tensing. “Cakes, cookies, tarts and pies.”

“Yes, she can bake.” Lily quickly replied, trying to reduce the tension in the air. “She bakes better than I am.” She handed him a slice. “Try it.”

“Looks delicious,” Clay stared longingly at the tart. “Can’t wait to have a slice.”

“Dojo and I would like a slice too, Kimiko,” Master Fung added.

“Count me in,” Raimundo raised his hand.

“Me too,” Lily smiled.

Kimiko waited in anticipation as everyone took a bite of her apple tart.

“Please, let it be good.” She prayed in her heart.

At first nobody spoke but then, everybody began talking at once.

“OMG!!!”

“THIS IS DELICIOUS!!!”

“THIS IS SO GOOD!!!”

“This is indeed delicious!”

“YUMMY!!!”

…

Later that night, all of them were excused early after clearing off the dishes and tidying up the kitchen. Only this time, the boys had joined the girls for the cleanup as a thankful gesture for the meal. Never would they had imagined to have a scrumptious autumn meal like that in the temple! They were even more surprised that Kimiko actually has a knack in baking because they knew that she wasn’t very good in cooking. Before Lily came to the temple, it was Raimundo and Clay who had always in charge with preparing the temple’s meals. But since Lily was here, they could finally give themselves a break from cooking, only stepping in if she was unavailable. As for Lily and Kimiko, they were very grateful that the boys were willing to help them out since there were a lot of dishes and utensils to be washed. Besides, they still needed to mop the floor and wipe down everything so the kitchen will be pristine before they left for bed.

“Whew, glad that everyone enjoyed tonight’s meal,” Lily let out a sigh of relief after reaching her cottage. She felt happy that everybody enjoyed the meal and everything ended well. She was very thankful that the boys had helped them in cleaning up because she knew that if it were up to her and Kimiko, they wouldn’t have finished their cleanup in time.

“I guess I should be going to bed as well,” she yawned. “Today was a tiring day indeed.” As she was sitting down in front of her vanity mirror, she noticed that there was another flower on the dressing table; a fully-bloomed crimson lily. Smiling, she picked it up and kissed it, inhaling its alluring scent. A small piece of paper was poking out from the petals. Curious, she carefully took it out and read it.

“Eh,” she gasped, feeling surprised and excited at the same time. “He wants to see me tonight?”

…

“You have something for me?” Chase Young smiled when he saw Lily carrying a small bag.

“Oh yes,” she replied, fishing out an apple from the bag and held it out for the Heylin Prince to see. “I’ve picked these specially for you. I really hope that you’ll like them.”

“Apples?” He gasped in surprise before flashing a thankful smile at her. “How thoughtful of you.” He clasped his hands around hers. “Thank you, my dear.”

The Dragon of Wood smiled while gently prying of her hands from him. “Where are you going, Lily?” Chase asked, surprised that she simply walked off from him, heading towards the kitchen. “What are you doing?” He asked again, watching her opening the drawers and took out a fruit knife, a small wooden chopping block, and a small plate. “No, you don’t have to do it,” he protested after realizing that she wanted to cut the apples for him.

“It’s okay, Chase.” She smiled. “We can eat the apples together since they will taste better that way.”

“Yeah, but…” He tried to protest but she cut him short.

“It’s okay.”

Seeing her being very determined about it, Chase decided to let her be. He sat in a nearby chair and watched her skillfully cutting and peeling the apples. However, she had peeled them differently this time; they were cut and shaped into small red rabbits. Watching her peeling the apples made him remember the time when she had done exactly the same… only a thousand of years ago.

Chase’s flashback…

“Dear, I’ve bought something special for you today!” Chase called his wife when he had returned from the market. He was holding a small sack in his hands. It looked slightly heavy.

“Welcome home, Chase.” His wife appeared from the kitchen, smiling as she greeted him. “Oh, what’s that?” She pointed towards the sack.

“Something that I know you’ll love.” Smiling, he took out a shiny red apple. “Juicy, red apples. Specially for you.”

“Apples?” His wife’s eyes lit up, excited to see the apple. “I thought apples are rare here in the village. How did you get it?”

“Well,” he explained. “I was returning home from the temple and I saw someone selling these apples at a stall. Everyone else were crowding around the stall and I was lucky enough to get some for you.”

“Aww… Chase,” she smiled while kissing him lovingly on his cheek. “That’s very thoughtful of you. Thank you, my love.” She took the apples and went into the kitchen, he following closely behind her. He sat down and watched her peeling the apples. She was so skillful that the peeled apples looked like small rabbits.

“Done,” she exclaimed happily while arranging the apple slices on a small plate. “Now we can enjoy them together…”

End of flashback...

“Chase?” Lily’s voice had snapped him back into the present. “Are you okay?”

“Err… yeah,” he stammered. “I’m okay.”

She showed him the beautifully-peeled apple slices that were nicely arranged in a small plate. “Done,” she exclaimed happily. “Now we can enjoy them together.” He was stunned when the way she said it was exactly the same as before. 

“Where should we enjoy them?” She asked him while putting the plate of apples onto a tray alongside a small teapot of jasmine tea with two small teacups. As she was about to carry the tray, Chase swiftly grabbed her arm.

“It’s alright,” he said while taking the tray from her. “I’ll carry these for you. Let’s enjoy them together under the autumn night’s sky.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

…

When they had reached the observatory, Lily had noticed that a small picnic setting had been set up beforehand; a spacious Persian rug underneath a small tea table with a candle lighting up in a small glass jar. A fully-bloomed lily was inside a vase beside the jar. Comfortable pillows and cushions were scattered around the table. Chase set down the tray and took his seat, beckoning Lily to do the same as well.

“You are quite the romantic, aren’t you?” She gushed as she took her seat beside him. “Since when you’ve managed to prepare all of this beforehand?”

“Ahh,” he beamed, feeling proud that she acknowledged everything. “I’ve been ready. All my life,” he winked at her while taking off his armor and gloves, revealing his black tunic. “I hope that you like this.”

“Like?” she smiled. “I love it!”

They enjoyed their picnic under the cool autumn night’s sky. Apart from snacking on the cutely-sliced apples, they spent their time by talking with each other but usually it was Lily that had done most of the talking. Chase was more on being a patient listener; occasionally interrupting her for questions and opinions while silently admiring her beauty that was illuminated by the soft candlelight.

“Are you cold?” He asked when she shuddered for a bit when the wind blew.

“A little bit,” she nodded, trying to keep herself warm but her satin nightgown didn’t do any justice. “Yeah.”

The Heylin Prince moved the table away with just a flick of his hand; it shifted to the side and miraculously enough, the table’s contents did not fall off while it was moving. He flicked his hand again and all of the pillows and cushions were huddled around them, creating a comfortable resting space. He settled into a clump of cushions and looked at her.

“Come here,” he patted an empty spot beside him, his husky voice beckoning her to do so. Without questioning, the pretty Xiaolin Dragon of Wood obediently scooted to his side, making herself comfortable resting beside him. When she had already settled down, he turned around to face her. Oh, how he had missed her! When they were laying down beside each other, he finally had the chance to see her up close and he realized that everything about her had remained unchanged. 

However, he also realized the uncertainty in her eyes. Those hazel eyes were holding so many hopes and expectations but they were afraid of letting it all out. He knew that she was still searching for her missing puzzle piece in her life; the essential piece that can solve everything that she had seek throughout all of these years and yet, she still didn’t realize that her missing piece was actually here in front of her eyes; HIMSELF.

“Chase,” Lily began. “I don’t know why but I always see you everywhere. In my dreams, in my reflection and sometimes in sudden visions or flashbacks. At certain times, I can even hear your voice.”

“Really?” Chase’s ears perked up with interest. “You really do miss me.” He teased her.

“Yeah,” she blushed. “That one too.” She honestly admitted. “But I felt like we have known each other way back. It felt like as if you had known me all my life and by all means as if you are the one whom I’ve been looking for these years.” He didn’t interrupt, waiting for her to spill out everything.

“But yet again, I think it’s just me.” She giggled embarrassedly, dismissing her thoughts. “I don’t know why I had such feelings like that. Kinda silly don’t you think so?” He didn’t say anything instead he pulled her closer into his arms. “Let my embrace warm you up from the cool autumn’s air.” He whispered while gazing directly into her eyes. But it wasn’t a fearful piercing stare as there was a hint of inexpressible sorrow within his yellow eyes. He let his hand rest on her cheek, caressing it lovingly. She didn’t flinch at all despite being taken by surprise with his sudden actions and she felt that his yellow eyes were burning deeply into the dark depths of her soul.

“No,” he shook his head. “I don’t think that your thoughts were silly at all.” He tried his best to hide the sorrow in his heart. “What if…” he paused, taking a deep breath before continuing his sentence. “What if all of your thoughts are real?” he added, closing in the distance between them. “What if,” his heart ached as he tried to convey his real thoughts. “What if I am truly the person that you have been searching all these years?” He stopped abruptly when he noticed that tears were silently streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” Lily stammered, trying to wipe away those tears. “I don’t know what came over me?” No matter how hard she tried, the tears kept on raining down. She really didn’t know why she was crying her eyes out and she felt a painful sensation in her heart as if it was going to break especially after hearing Chase’s words.

“Shh…” He wiped away her tears. “It’s alright. You can cry on me all night if you want to.” Without another word, she buried her face into his chest and cried her heart out. Meanwhile, he held her close, his heart sunk whenever he heard her sobs and cries; his tunic was drenched with her warm, emotional tears.

“If what you’ve said is true,” she sobbed while clutching his chest. “Then I’ll be the luckiest girl in the world.”

“What’s that?” He looked down on her, as he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “Say that again?” he demanded.

“If what you’ve said is true,” she repeated again, trying to control her sobs. “Then I’ll be the luckiest girl in the world.”

“And I’ll be the luckiest person in the world if that is true.” He replied while kissing the top of her head as he was tightening his embrace.

…

Chase Young was resting in his bed after he had successfully returned Lily back to her cottage at the temple without being seen by anyone else. Apparently, she had cried herself to sleep while still within his embrace. His thoughts were focused on their heartfelt conversation earlier...

“I felt like we have known each other way back. It felt like as if you had known me all my life and by all means as if you are the one whom I’ve been looking for these years.”

“What if all of your thoughts are real? What if I am truly the person that you have been searching all these years?"

“If what you’ve said is true, then I’ll be the luckiest girl in the world.”

“And I’ll be the luckiest person in the world if that is true.”

He buried his face in his hands while letting out a cry of anguish. He was so close into revealing his true self to her. However, he couldn’t bring himself to do it as it will be a huge shock for her to take it in.

“I wanted to tell her… but I don’t want to scare her away…” He sighed.

But then he realized that she too has feelings towards him except that she was afraid to admit it. She was indeed on the right track but her uncertainty and fear had messed up her emotions.

“Never mind,” he told himself. “I’ll let her know when the time is right.”


	18. Chapter 18

Lily was excited for tonight; she couldn’t wait to meet Chase Young again. He did promise that he will take her again to his lair. She would love to wear something special for him but she wouldn’t want to risk herself answering tricky questions if she was caught by the others. In the end, she had chosen to wear her prettiest nightgown; strapless, knee-length nightgown made from black satin and lace. She even wore a tinted lip balm and even dabbed a little perfume on her wrists, temples and neck, making sure the scent was not too overpowering. Since it was a cloudy night, she had no problems blending into the shadows all the way to their usual meeting place deep in the woods. She shivered all the way there since the autumn season was nearing its end.

“Ah, my lovely Lily.” The Heylin Prince beamed as soon as she arrived at their meeting place. He was mesmerized by her beauty and her black nightgown made her look like the princess of the night. “You even let your hair down like I requested,” he commented while playing with a strand of her hair.

“Oh yes,” she gently grabbed his hand. With her eyes closed, she kissed it lovingly. She had missed him so much despite always confronting his villainy façade during Sheng Gong-Wu quests. She wanted to scream out her true feelings out loud but she could only manage to let them echoing within the depths of her heart.

“Are you alright?” He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and rested his chin on top of her head, feeling slightly surprised by her gesture. However, he didn’t even pull his hand away.

Slowly, she lowered his hand and opened her eyes. Her seductive gaze made his heart exploding with burning passion towards her.

“Yes,” her voice quivered with passion. “I am now,”

He wanted her. More.

…

“Come, there’s something I wanted to show you.” Chase took her hand in his as they walked through the depths of one of the caves in his lair. It was dimly lit with candles, casting eerie shadows on the cave’s walls.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise, I’m sure you’ll love it.”

They kept on walking until they noticed a soft white glow at the far end of the cave. It was glowing brighter as they were getting nearer towards it.

“WOW!” Lily exclaimed in delight as soon as thousands of white crystals shone brightly in front of her astonished eyes. Crystals in different shapes and sizes were jutting here and there and some of them were even in clusters, casting a brilliant white glow. In the far corner of the glittering cave, there was an altar made entirely out of pure white crystals. 

“This is amazing!” She traced her fingers on a nearby crystal; its surface was cold and smooth. While she was admiring the crystals, he watched her in silent admiration as the radiant crystals made her lovelier and more ethereal than usual.

“This particular cave was discovered recently.” He commented, his unholy eyes on her. “Since I’ve already shown you most areas, it’s fitting that I’ve bring you down here.”

“I like it here… OUCH!”

Blood began to trickle out from her cut finger and dripped onto a crystal. In front of their astonished eyes, the crystal began to change its colour from a pure snowy white to a bloody crimson. She felt lightheaded and her body began to sway.

“Why am I…”

…

“Wh… where am I?” Lily rubbed her eyes groggily. She looked around and noticed that she was resting in bed in a darkened room. It was dimly lit with a single candle, its incense-like scent laced the cool air. She squinted as her eyes were trying to slowly adjust themselves to the dimness.

“Wait a minute…” she gasped in alarm when she saw the scarlet silk bedspread. “THIS ISN'T MY BED!” Before she could leap out of bed, a shadowed figure pinned both of her shoulders down! She tried to shake it off but its grip was so strong that she could not move at all.

“So,” the voice purred. “You’ve finally awakened, my dear.” She felt a hand was caressing her cheek. This particular touch was gentle and full of longing.

“Chase?” She breathed, slightly surprised and embarrassed seeing him on top of her. “What happened?” Their faces were just merely inches away from each other. However, she relaxed when it was just the two of them. She realized that he had taken off his armor, revealing his simple black tunic.

“You’ve fainted,” Chase explained, his voice slightly strained from holding himself back. “Perhaps we should end our meeting earlier tonight? You looked quite exhausted.”

“No,” she shook her head in disagreement. “I don’t want to leave.” She looked up at him, with pleading eyes. “Please?”

“How I wish,” Chase’s right hand caressed her cheek while staring lovingly into her eyes. Those hazel eyes were glowing with yearning passion in the candlelight. “How I wish that you could stay. How I wish,” he began to lean in towards her, his lips hovering above hers. His right hand rested gently on her cheek while his left hand was stroking her head. His heart was beating madly for her. He knew that he shouldn’t’ be doing this as it was improper for him to do so but at the same time, he was gently tracing the outline of her soft and supple lips using his thumb. Lily felt hot blood began to rush into her face as he did so. As a response, she slowly kissed his thumb while gazing at him seductively.

“Chase?” She whispered as he began to lean in closer. His yellow eyes were glowing like amber in the dark. Seeing those eyes made her yearned for him more as she wrapped her arms around his muscular body.

“I wish… that you are MINE…”

Their lips finally met each other as Chase firmly gripping at the back of her head. In her response, she was pulling him closer. It was an intense kiss, burning with red hot passion. Both of them said nothing as they were locked in an entangling embrace with their legs intertwined together. In the depths of her heart, Lily felt a small pang of guilt from her actions but somehow, she didn’t want to let him go. She felt that he finally completed her, he is the missing puzzle piece of her life. His dark kisses were wicked and full of hunger and when his tongue touched hers, she felt as if she was going to melt inside of him.

“Ah… ahn… Chase…” she moaned in between their sweet kisses. “Ahn… Ah… Chase… I…” 

“Shhh…” Chase kissed her again harder this time, refusing to let her go. If it were to him, he could have taken her here and now. After all, she did belong to him. As for Lily, she couldn’t breathe but she could feel that his hot desire was breathing into her, filling her up with forbidden passion. Her fingers dug into his back as she was yearning for more and she could feel that he was the same, feeling his muscles tensed up under his tunic as he was pushing himself against her body. Her face was flushed when his hands were all over her body, caressing her with such intensity that she began to moan and sigh.

“Ahh…” she gasped when he groped her. “Chase… I… Ah… Mmph!” Her lips were silenced with his kisses as his hands were roaming all over her.

“Shh…” He hissed, enjoying her moans and sighs as he slipped his hand underneath her nightgown, continuing to feel her warmth against his skin. “I know you’re enjoying this, my dear.”

She really did enjoy it. His kisses and his touch… everything. 

Things were getting more intense as Chase began to stray away from her lips since his was trailing down her slender neck before stopping below her exposed left collarbone.

“Ah…Chase… Please... I… AHHH!” Lily cried as a slight pain shot up from that area, her hands were pulling him closer towards her. She wanted him more and she knew that he wanted her too.

Suddenly, a dizzying blackness began to take over her mind. She wanted to say something but the Heylin Prince hushed her, cradling her like a doll.

“Shh…” he whispered softly. “It will be alright. I’m here now.”

…

Chase was pacing back and forth. In his hand was a long, blood red crystal; the same crystal that was created from Lily’s blood by accident. He held the crystal, a darkened expression on his face.

“So…” he seethed in disgust. “She too has subtle feelings toward that Xiaolin punk, Raimundo. Of all people, how could she?” He gripped the crystal. Knowing he had a crush on her is bad enough but knowing she also had feelings towards him? That was preposterous! 

“But her feelings toward Raimundo is way weaker than her feeling towards me.” He smiled, feeling slightly relieved but he tensed up again, eyes narrowing into evil slits. “I won’t take any more chances. Something must be done.”

His tender moment with Lily suddenly flashed into his mind; her pleading eyes and sighs, her warm embrace, their passionate kiss.

“Ah, yes…” he smiled while running a finger on his lips. “Something must be done…”

The crystal shattered into a gazillion pieces.


End file.
